Chinese Olympic Gymnasts Underage Scandal

Two Chinese Olympic Gymnasts He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan, who won gold medals in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, may in fact be only 14 years-old, when Olympic gymnasts are required to be 16 years-old. Both were chosen to compete late in July. Younger, and therefore smaller, gymnasts have the advantage of being able to perform difficult skills easier. There is a lot of evidence supporting claims that documents were forged around the time of the Olympics to insure He and Jiang qualified to compete. However, there is a lot of evidence, especially from Chinese government web sites, and statements from government officials confirming the claims these two athletes were under the age of 16. If these accusations are true, it cheapens how the world sees China, and causes a loss of face due to the perception that they cheated their way to gold medals. To encourage the best athletes to compete, it might be best for the Olympic committee to allow any age to compete. Click the link below to read more, and see some of the evidence.

Below are China’s Beijing Olympic Gymastic team (left to right) Cheng Fei, Yang Yilin, Li Shanshan, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Deng Linlin celebrate their victory during the awarding ceremony for gymnastics artistic women’s team final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. The Chinese team claimed the title of the event with a score of 188.900.

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Beijing Olympic Scandal Over Lip Synching Girl

The Chinese government is being criticized for replacing a Chinese girl at the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing with another Chinese girl who was better looking, and for mixing in CGI fireworks with real fireworks.

Lin Miaoke (left) lip-synched at the opening ceremony over the voice of Yang Peiyi (right), who was considered visually unsuitable to appear herself because of her buck teeth, so only her voice was used. The Chinese rep said:

"The main consideration was the national interest. The child on the screen should be flawless in image, in her internal feelings, and in her expression. In the matter of her voice, Yang Peiyi was flawless, in the unanimous opinion of all the members of the team."

"We have a responsibility to face the audience of the whole country, and to be open with this explanation. We should all understand it 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."

"So we made the choice. I think it is fair to both Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi, after all, we have a perfect voice, a perfect image and a perfect show, in our team’s view, all together."

Yang Peiyi is said to have reacted well to the disappointment. Peiyi said:

"I am proud to have been chosen to sing at all."

That is what a report quoted the little girl as saying, but we all know she would rather have been onstage herself.

In China, putting on the best face, is the best way to save face.

John Woo Stuntman Burned Alive

A stuntman filming a scene for a new John Woo movie was burned alive in a bizarre accident during what should have been a routine stunt. Reuters reports:

At least three people were injured in the accident during the shooting of the battle epic, "Red Cliff".

"The fire broke out early Monday morning when the crew were shooting a scene in which a small, smoking boat crashed with a large ancient war vessel," Xinhua news agency said.

At the point of collision, at which machines let out smoke, an unchoreographed flame jumped 30 meters (yards) into the air, the Beijing News said, citing crew at the northern Beijing location.

Jackie Chan talked to Ellen about how little concern for safety there is when shooting stunts in Asia, as there is in Hollywood. Life is cheap in some countries, and so is the stuntman pay.

Send Sharon Stone a Message Help China

Sharon Stone made some terrible remarks about the victims of the recent earthquake in China. The rest of us are not like Stone. Show China you care about their dead and injured children. Click here to help. To quote Jewel from one of her songs, "In the end, only kindness matters."

Strange Colorful Clouds before Sichuan earthquake in China

These colorful cloud formations appeared in the sky about 30 mins before the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake took place. This was recorded in Tianshui, Gansu province about 450 km northeast of epicenter, by someone using a cell phone. There is speculation that gaseous particles were released prior to the earthquake which caused the colorful clouds. Video footage of the clouds were taken from all over China. This is just one of those videos. Click here to see a satellite image of the epicenter, the intensity of the quake, and the location where the video was taken in relation to the earthquake.