56的少数民族小孩簇拥在国旗周围，代表着56六个民族。其实这小孩都是汉族穿了少数民族服装而已，开幕式上不仅假唱，连小孩都是假的。

First off, as some of you may have read, it's been revealed that many of the 56 "minority" representatives who ran across the pitch during the opening ceremony were actually Han Chinese children wearing costumes. It's a common trick during your average CCTV televised spectacular, but someone should've spent an extra buck or two to acquire some real minority kids for the Olympics.

The SCMP was especially harsh:

Even the children were fake....

The youngsters, dressed in 56 ethnic costumes in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, were not all selected from the nation's ethnic communities, a top Bocog official acknowledged yesterday.

While the ceremony guide reads, "Fifty-six children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag, representing the 56 ethnic groups," many of them were actually Han Chinese children dressed to represent the minorities.

"Some performers were dressed in ethnic costumes, which are very normal in mainland performances. There is nothing special," said Wang Wei , executive vice-president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

This is the third incident of misrepresentation to emerge from the ceremony....

"I don't know the concrete details and where the children are from. China has such a tradition in art performance [where] you can wear costumes of minority groups.

"As long as there is a need, performers will wear the costumes to signify people's friendship and happiness."