The children accompanied the soldiers carrying in the national flag at the most solemn moment of the ceremony.
They were dressed in costumes associated with the country's ethnic minorities, including those from troubled areas such as Tibet and the muslim province of Xinjiang. Such displays of "national unity" are a compulsory part of any major state occasion.
But the children were all from the Han Chinese majority, which makes up more than 90 per cent of the population and is culturally and politically dominant, according to an official with the cultural troupe from which they were selected.
"I assume they think the kids were very natural looking and nice," Yuan Zhifeng, deputy director of the Galaxy Children's Art Troupe said.
The official guide to the opening ceremony said that the children did not just represent but "came from" China's ethnic groups.
"Fifty-six children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag, representing the 56 ethnic groups," it said.
This point was put to Wang Wei, executive vice-president of the Beijing organising committee at a press conference today.
"I think you are being very meticulous," he said. He said it was "traditional" to use dancers from other ethnic groups in this way.
"I would argue it is normal for dancers, performers, to be dressed in other races' clothes," he said. "I don't know exactly where these performers are from."
The initial triumph of the opening ceremony has already been clouded by revelations that the little girl who sand "Hymn to the Motherland", a patriotic Chinese anthem, was lip-synching to the pre-recorded voice of another girl who had been told she was not pretty enough to appear. The "footprint fireworks" shown on television were also pre-recorded and digitally enhanced.
The discovery that the children representing ethnic groups as diverse as Mongolians and members of the Li group from the south-western mountains were all in fact Han will hardly be noticed in China, where such practices are normal.
Nevertheless it is a sign of how sensitive ethnic relations in China are. At national Communist Party and state congresses, while the Han Chinese delegates all wear suits, carefully chosen members of ethnic minorities are told to wear traditional costume.
"Minority dances" are a regular part of state-sponsored entertainments, with performers coming from all over the country without having to belong to the relevant group.
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