This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

Miming at live performances could be banned from next year, China's ministry of culture has announced.

Singers who lip-synch or musicians who pretend to play their instruments twice or more in a two-year period, face having their business licences revoked.

Only professional performers will be covered, which will presumably mean the country's most celebrated case of faking it - at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics - would be exempt.

Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke was lauded around the world for her performance of Ode to the Motherland at the event. But it later emerged she was miming to a recording made by Yang Peiyi, aged seven . Officials replaced the younger girl because they judged Miaoke more photogenic.

Sun Qiuxia, from the ministry, said it will consult with the public over the next few weeks, before agreeing final details of new rules on commercial performances.

Zheng Jun, a singer who became famous in the late 80s, told Shanghai-based paper Noon News, less than 20% of stars actually sang at their "live" shows. "I really don't know what sort of an industry I'm involved in," he said . "I once met a well-known singer at a show who didn't even recognise his song as it was playing, because it had been so long since he'd truly performed it."

New rules will also ban performers from accepting money for charity events.