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Peter Simpson

Even the children were fake.
The youngsters,  dressed in 56 ethnic costumes in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, were not all selected from the nation's ethnic communities,  a top Bocog official  acknowledged yesterday.
While the ceremony guide reads, 'Fifty-six children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag, representing the 56 ethnic groups,' many of them were actually Han Chinese children dressed to represent the minorities.
'Some performers were dressed in ethnic costumes, which are very normal in mainland performances. There is nothing special,' said Wang Wei  , executive vice-president of the  Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.
This is the third incident of misrepresentation to emerge from the ceremony.  It was revealed that a  nine-year-old girl lip-synched the song Ode to the Motherland because the real singer was deemed not pretty enough, and some of the 'live' fireworks seen on TV screens around the world were computer-generated.
After enduring the uproar in mainland chat rooms and  in the international media following the previous two faking incidents, Beijing officials still seemed unprepared for the reaction of overseas journalists yesterday.
Asked why the reality contrasted with the description in the ceremony guide pamphlet, Mr Wang said: 'I think you are being very meticulous [in your questioning]. I won't argue with you.
'I don't know the concrete details and where the children are from. China has such a tradition in art performance [where] you can wear costumes of minority groups.
'As long as there is a need, performers will wear the costumes to  signify people's friendship and happiness.'
Hu Xingdou ,  a political analyst at the Beijing Institute of Technology,  said mainland officials were used to faking in performances and took it for granted even in events concerning the nation's dignity.
'They do it unconsciously. Truth is not valued as highly as a spectacular result,' he said. 'It should be a good thing that the old and rotten values are confronted by one cherishing the truth. However, I don't expect a change will happen. The Chinese bureaucratic system is so deeply rooted.'
China is struggling to keep conflicts with its ethnic groups out of the spotlight during the Olympics. Human rights groups have tried to use  the Olympics to highlight what they say is government repression of Tibetans and  Uygurs in Xinjiang .



Fake minority children took part in Games opening ceremony