Beijing Olympics: 'Ethnic' children exposed as fakes in opening ceremony

Another section of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony has been exposed as faked - the children supposedly representing the country's 56 ethnic groups were in fact all from the same one, the majority Han Chinese race.

The children accompanied the soldiers carrying in the national flag at the most solemn moment of the ceremony.

They were dressed in costumes associated with the country's ethnic minorities, including those from troubled areas such as Tibet and the muslim province of Xinjiang. Such displays of "national unity" are a compulsory part of any major state occasion.

But the children were all from the Han Chinese majority, which makes up more than 90 per cent of the population and is culturally and politically dominant, according to an official with the cultural troupe from which they were selected.

Cylon bunnies, kittens and unicorns: [link]

the children supposedly representing the country's 56 ethnic groups were in fact all from the same one, the majority Han Chinese race.

I didn't think they were the real deal during hte ceremony, they all looked alike. Then again, I see a lot of "ethnic" festivals around here where the representation is considered close enough to the real deal.

I think I've become a touch cynical.

This is great just for the title: Ancient Egyptian Cylon Unicorn Cat

And I can't believe I gave Bush more credit.

I know, I was gonna say "two".

And I thought that might be too much credit.

Another section of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony has been exposed as faked - the children supposedly representing the country's 56 ethnic groups were in fact all from the same one, the majority Han Chinese race.

I thought they were just dressed in the costume of. In fact, I think Costas actually SAID "Children dressed in clothing representing the 57 ethnic groups of China".

I was also not outraged by the "faked" fireworks -- Matt Lauer said the footprints were CGI.

The fake-out with the seven year olds singing was sad and I feel for them -- but in four years they'll be on the Women's Gymnastics team so its all good.

I'm annoyed, the schedules for Labor Day have come out, and I'm working the Sunday evening before Labor Day, till 10 PM, then turning around and coming in for my usual 8 AM shift on that Monday. When I said, "Hey, wait a minute!" my gracious supervisor said, "That's OK, someone will be in at 9 PM on Sunday if you want to leave at 9 instead of 10, you'll probably be able to get in that extra hour during the week." Gee, thanks, John.

I'm soothing myself with double pay for a holiday and the hope that it will be dead quiet over a major holiday and it won't feel so horrible.

Yeah, I didn't think the children in costumes were supposed to be the ethnic groups, just wearing the ethnic costumes.

Were the footprints the only CGI fireworks, or were all the fireworks CGI?

Also, while I'm on a question roll, how much do books weigh?

'Cause I'm thinking about using these as my built-in shelf shelves. They'd look like they were floating within the cutout to make the bookshelf.

But I think they were intended to be decorative, so I can't find anything on how much weight they'll actually hold. Another similar product says it'll hold 66 pounds. How much does a fully loaded 24" bookshelf hold?

But I think they were intended to be decorative, so I can't find anything on how much weight they'll actually hold.

ON a non-finish specific page for that type of shelf it says they'll hold 15 lbs. bummer.

Were the footprints the only CGI fireworks, or were all the fireworks CGI?

My understanding is that the footprints were CGI only on TV, because it was deemed too dangerous to be setting off fireworks that close to a bajillion news copters. (But that there really were footprint fireworks set off, just not "live" the way it was shown.)