A round-up of front-page news in China involving cases of fraud:
“Police in Humen, Guangdong Province busted a fake beer producer yesterday, reports today’s Dongguan Times. The article said that the producer replaced the labels and caps of cheap Shanshui-brand beer with those of the more expensive Tsingtao beer, creating three thousand fake Tsingtao beer bottles in a single day. The big photo on the front page shows the water tank which was used to remove the labels…”

New evidence has led to an official investigation:

“The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into mounting allegations that Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning gymnastics star because she was too young to compete.

An IOC official told The Times that because of ‘discrepancies’ that have come to light about the age of He Kexin, the host nation’s darling who won gold in both team and individual events, an official inquiry has been launched that could result in the gymnast being stripped of her medals.

The investigation was triggered as a US computer expert claimed yesterday to have uncovered Chinese government documents that he says prove she is only 14 - making her ineligible to compete in the Olympics - rather than 16, as officials in Beijing insist is her age.

Mike Walker, a computer security expert, told The Times how he tracked down two documents that he says had been removed from a Chinese government website. The documents, he said, stated that He’s birth date was January 1 1994 - making her 14 - and not January 1 1992, which is printed in her passport.”

China Digital Times digs through internet archives to find that China has changed old records, rewriting the evidence of He Kexin’s age.

“Translated caption: The thirteen-year-old He Kexin, from Wuhan, met opponent Yang Yilin, who is on the National Team. Amid cheers from her hometown audience, the young girl excellently executed the full set of moves in the finals, and just beat out Yang Yilin, who already had high scores. …
While coach Lu Shanzhen was so confident about the online records of He Kexin’s age, informtion discovered by Chinese bloggers may surprise her. …
EXHIBIT B: The same China Daily article dated May 23, 2008 titled ‘Uneven-bars queen the new star in town’ about He Kexin. This is the version currently available online. As you can see, when compared to EXHIBIT A, everything is identical. Except for one little thing. The state-run newspaper has changed He’s age.”

Raj at the Peking Duck responds to Chinese and Western opinions on the “crooked teeth” scandal:

“I think that Roland is being somewhat petulant, given that most people think that Yang was cute enough to be at the opening ceremony and there is no noticeable ill-will towards Lin. Furthermore, he rather misses the point (or chooses to ignore it) over why this has been reported so widely. It isn’t so much because of what may have been said about her, more the fact that Yang was made to dub for a ‘more’ photogenic girl. Whether the director said that she was less attractive or the other girl was more attractive, it is clear that a decision was taking over presentation. And presentation is a key party of the ‘story’ of Beijing 2008.”