China is among the countries on international watchlist for the production of fake products. The counterfeit goods often try to pass off as the genuine branded item.
Thus, it is not surprising that some of its singers also fake their performance by just lip-synching a song rather than doing it live. In some cases, it is a valid excuse if the singer has some voice problems and could not back out of a commitment, and the singer’s real recorded voice is used.
However, if the performer has a ghost singer, it’s a case of double fakery. In the case of Chinese folk singer Sa Dingding, it is not certain if she was using another person’s voice or not. Sa was caught that she was just lip-synching because she was holding the microphone upside down, reported Mashable.
When she realized her error at the start of her performance, Sa immediately reversed the mike and smiled as if nothing happened. However, the cameras caught her action which happens during at around the 18th second of the 27-second video posted on social media.
The incident happened at the Lantern Festival Gala broadcast over CCTV 15 on Monday, Feb. 22. Sa just took the incident lightly and even joked on her Weibo account, that she would be a better actress when caught again holding the mike on the wrong end.
In 2008, during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games hosted by Beijing, a similar incident happened, embarrassing China on the world stage when the host-nation was caught “cheating” not on the athletic events but on the national anthem singer.
Millions of TV viewers around the world saw and admired 7-year-old Lin Miaoke sing “Ode to the Motherland.” However, it was eventually revealed that the voice belonged to Yang Peiyi, a Chinese girl with a golden voice but crooked teeth which would not be impressive on TV, reported Huffington Post.
That led a member of China’s Politburo to make a last-minute change by using Yan’s voice and Lin’s face. Chen Qigang, chief music director of the ceremony, even defended the deception when he said, “The audience will understand that it’s in the national interest.”