ABSTRACT
It is August 2008 and the world's attention is on China. The Beijing Olympics are reaching their climax, having already put into circulation a myriad of explosive images. A minor scandal follows the Zhang Yimou-directed Opening Ceremony when it is revealed that Lin Miaoke (https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315883984/68d79aad-a91f-401e-9edc-7e411d2c771e/content/fig5-1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>), a pretty young girl, had lip-synched over the voice of the ostensibly less attractive Yang Peiyi (https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315883984/68d79aad-a91f-401e-9edc-7e411d2c771e/content/fig5-2_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>) 1 in a contemporary Singing In The Rain-type scenario (see Spencer, 2008). In this volatile image-world of national spectacle, image is everything, and images of beautiful young girls and women fuel the desire for the national in a global world, just as the image of woman has functioned in so many other contexts as universal sign producing desire for whatever product or nation-state is being promoted.
