Clearing the Air: China Moves To Block Airing Of Documentary On Dangers Of Smog

China has a different approach to clearing the air. We have discussed the record pollution measured in Beijing and the past efforts of the Chinese government to prevent people from talking about the shroud of pollution choking its population. Now the government censor have blocked the airing of a documentary on China’s smog — the 104-minute film Under the Dome by well-known former news anchor Chai Jing. While it has been viewed by more than 200 million times online, the censors are cracking down to prevent others from learning about the dangers of the smog levels in China.

The documentary takes a comprehensive look at pollution in China and the risk to particular populations and areas, including the account of a six-year-old girl who admits that she has never seen blue sky.

The government is now moving aggressively to take people from seeing the film, forcing major news outlets to remove the film and ordering print media not to use articles referencing the film. In other words, it must fade into the smog of China.

This could prove too late for China’s censors given the availability on the Internet. Under the Dome may prove China’s Silent Spring, the 1962 exposé on chemical pollution in the USA that helped spur the environmental movement. In the meantime, China has shown again that it has as little concern over the basic health of its citizens as it does their basic human rights.

Here is the film:

Source: USA Today