The Chinese student will say to his teacher that he will be in for a lesson rather than disappoint him and say that he won't be coming. As a result the same teacher like yours truly ends up sometimes waiting for a student like this who does not show up. The same Chinese logic is often applied when the Chinese person does not want to come to a party that he ahs been invited to but he says yes. I find that this is all lack of honesty and can see how it has affected how this populous nation publicizes itself during the Olympics. This is not to say that the Chinese are not a courteous people.
That is why it should be no surprise for the Chinese to come across as being earnest about not having let the seven year old singer appear instead of the none year old who was revealed as having just mouthed the opening music. I cannot understand why the younger girl did not appear but according to certain Chinese officials she did not represent what the Chinese image was supposed to be. What kind of nonsense is this? After all she may not have been as animated as the older one but she is a child just the same and there is no reason why she could not have appeared. Looks like China is either rationalizing why they are being false or they are catching on to an occidental phenomena of presenting a polished image of a singing girl rather than showing the real stuff. Either way the old Chinese mentality of not declaring their real intentions at the beginning of an event has to change, it shows them as being false.
The same message should be related to the polished image of fireworks, which was adjusted digitally because they would not have been identified through pictures of a smoky Beijing atmosphere. Everybody knows that China's main city has gray horizons so why not do something and cut down on the smog instead of dolling up Olympic pictures. China may have made a great change in pushing the envelope further as far as certain Olympic events are concerned but it has to be more honest regarding the image it projects.
