Milli Vanilli at the Beijing Olympics

Unfortunately, some official (politburo) decided that the 7 year old, Yang Peiyi, who really sang for a lip syncing 9 year old had teeth that were too crooked, so she was pulled at the last moment. And now the Chinese government is using the great firewall of China to remove all mention of this faux pa from the Chinese Internet, blogs, and web pages. Shades of Milli Vanilli.

Quote that justified this...

"We have a responsibility to face the audience of the whole country, and to be open with this explanation. We should all understand it is like this: it is a question of the national interest. It is a question of the image of our national music, our national culture. Especially at the entrance of our national flag, this is an extremely important, an extremely serious matter."—Chen Qigang, musical designer

Coverage:

• Chinese abuzz over lip-syncing singer in Olympics opening ceremony - LA Times
• China Olympic ceremony star mimed - BBC
• New York Times: Olympic Balladeer’s Voice Was Dubbed (August 12, 2008)
• YouTube Video: Lin Miaoke singing with Yang Peiyi's voice (Time: 2:29)
• HULIQ Initiates Petition To Let Yang Peiyi To Sing At Olympic Closing

On the fireworks, I blame NBC for not making it clearer these were faked. I watched the broadcast and I did not pick up from the wording it was faked.