Yet another inauthentic moment at the Olympics

It's becoming almost a daily news item for something else at the Beijing Olympics to be revealed as lip-synched, photoshopped, staged, or — in this case — impersonated:

KE FIREWORKS, fake singers and now fake ethnic minorities. Beijing Olympics organisers have admitted that children from China's dominant Han population were used in the opening ceremony last week, not youngsters from all 56 ethnic groups as previously claimed.

The news brings the issue of China's treatment of the minority ethnic groups within its borders back into sharp relief, following accusations that Beijing has sought to drown out dissenting voices from different ethnic groups during the Games.

The Han ethnic group accounts for more than 90 per cent of China's 1.3 billion people and is the dominant cultural group.

The 56 children who carried out the Chinese flag in a moment intended to showcase national harmony were all Han Chinese, but organisers played down the significance of using Han children to represent China's ethnic diversity.

More here.