BEIJING - A high-ranking Chinese official today admitted that the real Charmain Mao Zedong “wasn’t good looking enough, or cute enough” to lead the Communist Party of China through the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution, so actor Wang Ming was retained to do all of Mao’s public appearances and lip-sync all of his public statements.

“All the pictures of Mao we see today, they are really Wang Ming,” said Chen Qigang.  “The real Mao had crooked teeth.”

Rumors that Mao might have been played by an actor have plagued China for years.  After an historic meeting with the man he thought was Mao, former U.S. President Richard Nixon noted that “his lips didn’t match his speech.  I felt like I was watching a Japanese monster movie.”  China finally admitted the rumors were true after also admitting that Lin Miaoke, 9, lip-synced the voice of veteran singer Marni Nixon during the Olympics opening ceremony.  Ms. Nixon was also the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Deborah Kerr in The King and I.  She also dubbed Golda Meir’s voice when she was President of Israel.

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