China's New Crime? Lip-Synching

Any student of pop culture knows what Milli Vanilli, Ashlee Simpson, and China/st1 :country-region>'s Lin Maoke (the cute little girl who was "singing" at this year's Olympic opening ceremonies) have in common, and it's not just their common love of music.  If any of them were to "perform" in Chinafollowing the passage of a new regulation by China/st1 :country-region>'s Ministry of Culture, they would face severe penalties./span>

According to a new Article 29 of new business performance regulations, performers can't do anything that would "deceive the audience" or "cheat the public," including lip-synching, or playing pre-recorded songs in the place of live music.  For music purists and concert-goers, this news is probably well-received, but is lip-synching really worth public shaming and revocation of your performing license?    /span>

In a sense, this response is understandable.  The Lin Maoke Olympic scandal, made great television, but was a bit of a national embarrassment.  Is it really possible that in a country of over 1.3 billion people there wasn't one beautiful little girl with an equally stunning voice?  /span>

On the other hand, is there anything truly criminal about this type of music "deception?"  One of the primary reasons people go to concerts or other events is for entertainment.  If a performer is good enough to lip-synch a little bit, or add enhancing audio tracks without getting caught, does that do any harm?  /span>

Considering all of China's domestic challenges, is cracking down on bad lip-synchers seriously a priority for the Ministry of Culture? /span>

Perhaps this regulation will blow over without much incident, but I'd be surprised if one or two performers don't get caught by the regulations.  In any case, even though Lin Maoke's performance might be considered a "national embarrassment" the proposed article prohibiting lip-synching by law is just as cringe-worthy./span>