China to punish artists who 'fake it'

China to punish artists who 'fake it'
Written by Clifford Coonan / Variety Asia

On the heels of the Olympics Opening Ceremony, for which the cute little singer was revealed to be lip-synching, the Chinese Ministry of Culture says it will name and shame artists who fake it when performing -- and repeat offenders could lose their license to perform.

According to the Ministry's website, artists must not "use pre-recorded songs or music to replace live singing or instrument playing" to "cheat the public."

Punishment would be exposure as a vocal cheat, a fairly harsh penalty in a country where auds value authenticity so highly.

Top thesp Ziyi Zhang was slammed earlier this year for miming during the country's top-rated TV show, the Chinese New Year gala. Then there was the August furor when it came out that the Olympics lip syncher replaced a singer who was deemed too ugly to appear on such a high-profile national event by a senior government official.

A bill from the ministry requires promoters to provide supervision personnel to stop lip-synching from taking place.