An Epilogue (For Now)

It is finally time for me to present this documentary: Under The Dome by Chai Jing. I wanted to do so in the introduction, but saved the best for the last. 

Chai Jing, both the director and narrator, worked for China Central Television (CCTV) as an investigative reporter and host. After leaving CCTV, she undertook independent investigation into China’s air pollution problem and produced this self-financed documentary. It was uploaded on February 28, 2015, on the Saturday preceding the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC), and went viral instantaneously. It was viewed more than 150 million times over the weekend (Reuters, 2015)- as a reference, there were approx. 668 million internet users in China by June 2015 (Sina, 2015) - and stimulated heated debates - for instance, 280 million posts on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter (The Guardian, 2015).

The 104-minute documentary takes the simple form of a TED talk, with Ms. Chai given a presentation, combined with charts, interviews and footages of site visits, to a live audience. Yet its power is astonishing. The documentary is divided into three parts, each of which answers one of the following questions: What is smog? Where does it come from? And what can we do about it? In the second and third part, Chai Jing approached several sensitive topics (with honest comments from many government officials and industry insiders), including China’s urbanisation bubble and its relation to air pollution, the lack of law enforcement of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and low oil quality standards dictated by the industry itself, and further raised the question of the feasibility of opening up the currently state-owned monopolised petrochemical industry. 

Probably because of these sensitive topics and truthful comments from government officials and industry insiders, the documentary was ordered to be removed a week after. Yet also based on these and the fact that the film was first released on the website of the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, alongside an interview with the Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining, in which he highly praised it, I personally believe that it could not have been made and released without the support of the government, or at least part of it. The government may intended to use this documentary to signal its determination in combating air pollution prior to the NPC, but did not expect such tremendous reactions. In fear of further simmering of public discussions leading to uncontrollable incidents, they took it down. 

Others may beg to differ. Either way, another, probably more important signal Under The Dome has sent is that the masses are awake. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center (2015), air pollution is the second biggest concern of Chinese people (viewed as “a big problem” by 76% of the respondents), just after corruption (84%). Some may even benefit from corruption - I mean the corrupt officials themselves - but every body breathe in the polluted air. Concerned citizens are on the move: there are brave public figures like Chai Jing who expose the problem to a wider public, but also ordinary people like my parents investing in improving air quality in their own homes and leading greener lifestyles . And as Ms. Chai has appealed, there is certainly going to be more people who exercise their right to know and to supervise the environmental governance. 

A teacher of my undergraduate studies once told me that he was surprised by how much freedom of speech the Chinese is allowed on air pollution, given that this right is generally restricted in China. This has not always been the case. Both citizens and the government have come a long way since the outbreak of the problem in 2012/2013. After I first watched Under the Dome, I thought of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, which sparkled the environmental movement in the US in the 1960s. In my opinion, what made the book so successful was not just the scientific findings, but the public recognition of those findings. In this sense, this documentary could actually be the Silent Spring of our generation.

At this point, I would like to say some (not strictly) final words on these three months’ blogging experiences. (I know there is a lonely part 1 in the series "Lessons From the Past" waiting for follow-ups, I am still looking for good documentaries; in fact, the experiences of the UK are briefly mentioned in Under the Dome.)

I really enjoyed writing this blog (except on days when I was stuck with my poor writing), and I hope you have enjoyed reading as well. I feel lucky that I was allowed to choose air pollution in China as the theme, a theme that I am interested in and can personally relate to, and I know more about the subject matter now than I first started. Yet still, approaching this vast and complex problem in just 15 posts is rather sketchy, and the more I study into it, the more I realise  how much I do not know. I started off thinking air pollution was a purely scientific problem, then a problem of law enforcement and finally, an economic problem. Both of which I am afraid I still know little about. But then if I were able to solve air pollution by writing this blog, I would not have been here at all :-P Therefore, I have decided to keep maintaining this blog, as I continue following China’s progress on combating air pollution. Maybe someday, I can even be part of it. The posts will appear less frequent and probably shorter as well. I also intend to incorporate more modelling components - so far I have presented the results of several studies based on modelling. I hope to be able to comment more on the modelling approach itself, as I proceed with my studies.

So thank you, my dear readers, for your support so far, do share your opinions on the subject matter and on my blog with me and, until next time!