China Rules

The musical director of the ceremonies, Chen Qigang revealed in a Beijing radio interview a member of the Politburo - the highest ranking body of China's ruling Communist Party - decided Lin was pretty, but her voice was not the best.

A change had to be made in the "national interest."

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RELATED: In the national interest, huh?

-- BEIJING -- They look like they are anywhere between 8 and 11 years old, but five of the six girls on the Chinese gymnastics team hold passports that say they are 16 -- the minimum age to be competing in the Olympic gymnastics competition.

They wouldn't... would they?

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LAST WORD: The bright, shiny Beijing facade

-- BEIJING -- Not all was what it seemed during the spectacular opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Some of the footage shown to television viewers around the world and on giant screens inside the "Bird's Nest" stadium featured a computer-generated three-dimensional image.

The computerized images were produced by Crystal Digital Technology Co. of Beijing.

"We did our best to create a rendering that would look like the shot was taken live," company spokesman Lei Ming told the Beijing Times. "Most people could not tell the difference."

Maybe B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell can pick up a few P.R. pointers while he's there.

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