Smog blankets China once more –- this time online

Calum MacLeod | USA TODAY

BEIJING — A slick, highly critical documentary on China's choking smog has garnered widespread interest throughout the nation despite government censor efforts.

The 104-minute film Under the Dome — released this weekend by well-known former news anchor Chai Jing — examines in-depth the impact of the nation's toxic skies that are the downside of decades of breakneck economic growth. Since Saturday, it has been viewed more than 200 million times online.

While the video remains online, major news outlets have removed stories about it. The official Xinhua News Agency instructed publications not to use several articles Sunday, according to a screenshot captured by Chinese journalists. Xinhua routinely does not comment on its activities.

Environmental activists praised the film for boosting public awareness and pushing authorities to provide breathable air. Even Environment Minister Chen Jining joined that chorus, likening Under the Dome to Silent Spring, a 1962 exposé on chemical pollution in the USA.

Chai, 39, spent $160,000 and took one year to make the documentary, which she said was inspired by fears over how air pollution affected her infant daughter, who was born with a benign tumor.

The film, which borrows a format similar to Al Gore's Oscar-winning global warming documentary called An Inconvenient Truth by using an audience, exposes lax environmental practices and targets state-run oil companies.

It details China's dependency on burning coal for most of its energy and criticizes regulators for weak enforcement of anti-pollution rules. Using graphs, interviews and graphic footage, Chai is explicit about the cost of pollution, such as rising cancer rates. One little girl tells Chai she has never seen stars.

Climate campaigner Li Yan, who works at environmental group Greenpeace East Asia in Beijing, said the film was "quite phenomenal" for the way Chai replaced the usually "geeky" approach to the science of air pollution by answering common questions in an articulate and touching way.

Despite the documentary's criticism of the government, the independent film was launched through official Chinese media. The fact authorities permitted such widespread viewing "shows there is a recognition of the need to enhance public awareness, and make the call to action to ordinary people to join this 'war against pollution' as declared by the government last year," said Ma Jun, a leading environmental lobbyist who was consulted on the documentary.

The film follows a new environmental protection law and statements by Chinese leaders stressing quality of growth over quantity in an attempt to stem pollution, Li said.

China's Ministry of Science and Technology announced Tuesday a five-year project to prevent and control air pollution. Instead of simply responding to bouts of heavy smog, China must better coordinate the prevention of the tiny airborne particles most damaging to human health and promote diagnosing pollution-related diseases, Xinhua reported.

"Everybody is watching the video and sharing it," said Han Fuli, a Beijing housing official. "I hope it can have a great impact. China is developing fast, but we have to think more of the environment we leave for our kids, and their kids."

Li said public debate about the film will have a large impact on the country.

Under the Dome could build "momentum to push environmental governance and create a larger political space for environmental protection," Li said. "(It could) push the ministry to grow more teeth, be more powerful and have more leverage in pushing forward the targets and real implementation."