A documentary about China’s shockingly high levels of air pollution that has gone viral within China is being compared to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

The self-funded documentary, Under the Dome, by former state television presenter Chai Jing, takes a stark look at China’s air pollution woes by combining personal narrative, striking imagery, on-the-the ground interviews with scientific evidence.



One of China’s most prominent environmentalists, Ma Jun, likened the documentary to An Inconvenient Truth not just in style but in the impact it will likely have. He described the powerful documentary as “one of the most important pieces of public awareness of all time by the Chinese media”.



Standing on a darkened stage in front of an audience, Chai tells how after the birth of her daughter, she suddenly became aware of and “afraid” of the pollution. “I didn’t wear a mask in polluted days before. After holding a new life in my hands, I started to worry about the air quality,” she says. The feeling of fear and worry is one that resonates with any parent living in a polluted Chinese city.





“It is powerful because it is motivated by a personal story and has got the feelings that people can relate to. It also hold to the standards of investigative journalism, it is properly vetted on the scientific and technology side, it is a powerful combination,” said Ma.

With reports of more than 100m views online, the documentary has gone viral. Friends are sharing and discussing it on the popular messaging app Wechat and it is being widely discussed and debated on social media. Today is seemed as if everyone in shops and offices were talking about it.



While air pollution is not a new topic in China, it certainly has never been addressed in such a stark but also accessible way. It answers scientific questions about what is in the smog (14 different carcinogens) and leaves no doubt as to the dangerous health implications it has. A scene from the surgery of a lung cancer patient leaves nothing to the imagination as doctors remove a blackened lymph node despite the patient never having smoked.



Under the Dome doesn’t hold back in its criticism when examining the causes of pollution. Chai is critical of a lack of oversight and calls for government action in regulating polluters. She is critical of state oil companies for not improving petroleum quality that could help to cut pollution from cars.

In a country where criticism is routinely censored, this is brave. But tellingly despite not shying away from harsh criticism, so far widespread online discussion of Under the Dome has been allowed and there appear to have been no efforts to prevent it from being shared and viewed online.



“The very fact that this gets a green light to go ahead to be aired and to allow nearly two days of intense communications, I think it already shows a willingness to face the problem rather than dodge it,” said Ma.



It has been released just days before annual meetings of China’s top political bodies and Ma hopes it leads to “more in depth discussion and more solid actions proposed” on the issue of environment and pollution.

