Under the Dome 穹顶之下 (English sub-titles subsequently added) - a new TED-style 104-minute video documentary on China's air pollution challenges, was passionately delivered by celebrity Chinese lady journalist and former CCTV presenter Chai Jing on Saturday 31st January on People.com, the website of the state's mouthpiece People's Daily. It carries a tagline "the conscience of a senior journalist and the social responsibility of an ordinary mother 一位资深记者的道义良心; 一个普通母亲的社会责任), The cri de coeur went viral in China and has since been viewed online some 200 million times.See commentaries in the New York Times and the South China Morning Post.
During the sensitive period when both the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are in session, commonly referred to as the "Two Sessions", the video was taken off home pages of websites in China. President Xi, meanwhile, took pains to reiterate the leadership's determination to root out pollution on two fronts – both environmental and political. Click here
Claims of self-financing notwithstanding, the video's production and release would not have been possible without high-level support. It's instructive that they coincided with the appointment of a new Minister for Environmental Protection.
Yet, the subsequent removal of the video from Mainland Chinese websites has raised speculation about internal political rivalry or possible changed policy towards civil society. Jessica C. Teets, Assistant Professor at Middlebury College and author of Civil Society Under Authoritarianism: The China Model thinks that the apparent clampdown on the video reflects, in some measure, a continuation of very cautious civil society policy under Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao, rather than any dispute about policy directions on how to combat pollution or growing a greener economy. Click here
However viewed, the video speaks volumes on how serious and deep-seated China's air-pollution challenges are and how they could become a game changer in defining China's energy mix and the country's greener future.
View the following for background on how China is beginning to tackle the impossible –
Dark days ahead but blue skies could return to China's cities by 2030's Click here
Blue Skies for China’s Cities – A multi-dimensional strategy Click here
China's new environmental law more promising than expected Click here
Can China really reach its ambitious goals for clean energy? Click here
Cleaning up China's Coal Power Click here
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