The Great Chinese photo fake

The old Chinese tradition of doctoring photographs for propaganda purposes is not dead. But whereas in the days of Chairman Mao the Chinese people were barely aware of the trickery, today they get an apology.

A Chinese newspaper has had to grovel to readers following the discovery that an award-winning photograph of a herd of Tibetan antelope, frolicking under the controversial Qinghai-Tibet railway as a high-speed train passes overhead, is a fake.

The fabricated photo was released in 2006 by the state-run Xinhua news agency to rebuff criticism of the railway line's impact on endangered Tibetan wildlife. It was lauded as the "most memorable news photo of the year" by China Central Television (CCTV).

In a public statement, intended to deflect responsibility for the incident away

from CCTV and Xinhua, the editorial committee of the Daqing Evening News - one of whose photographers created the image - apologised to readers for the "negative influence" of the photo. The paper's editor-in-chief was forced to resign.

The doctoring of the photograph came to light only after eagle-eyed users of Chinese photographic website 'Unlimited Sights and Colours' questioned the picture's veracity. Evening News photographer Liu Weiqiang was finally forced to admit that the offending image was, in fact, a composite of two distinct pictures digitally 'stitched' together.

Liu said that he had never intended the image to be used as a news photograph. A transcript of the CCTV awards presentation ceremony, however, has Liu stating that he had wanted "to be able to capture