A hard-hitting video investigation into China’s grave air-pollution problem has been pulled from mainstream video sites, days after it garnered more than 100 million hits online.
Under the Dome, an independent documentary produced by former Chinese state media journalist Chai Jing (柴靜), was no longer available on popular Chinese video sites, including Youku and iQiyi, yesterday afternoon.
A link on Youku’s Web site that previously led to the video now prompts the message: “We’re very sorry, Youku was unable to find the page you requested.”
The 103-minute documentary — hailed by some as China’s Inconvenient Truth — remains available on YouTube, which is blocked in China.
Versions of the video racked up more than 155 million views on Chinese video streaming sites in just one day after its release on Saturday last week.
In the video, Chai, who previously worked as an anchor for state-run China Central Television, detailed causes of atmospheric pollution in the country, including slack government supervision and lenient penalties for polluters.
She has described the video as her “personal battle” against air pollution after her daughter was born with a benign tumor.
The removal of the documentary underscores the Chinese Communist Party’s sensitivity to public debate over China’s notorious smog problem.
It also represents a sharp turnaround by Chinese authorities, who only days ago encouraged ubiquitous coverage of the video in official print and broadcast media.
Chinese Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining (陳吉寧) praised the video earlier this week, telling Chinese reporters that it should “encourage efforts by individuals to improve air quality.”
The video’s disappearance comes as the country’s top annual political meeting, the National People’s Congress, is under way in Beijing, under thick white skies and with the city’s air quality registering as “very unhealthy,” according to a US embassy reading.
Online discussions related to the video remain unblocked on China’s popular social networks, and users of the Sina Weibo microblogging Web site yesterday voiced frustration with the government’s abrupt censorship move.
“Chai Jing’s documentary, Under the Dome, has already been ‘harmonized’ on all of the mainstream video sites,” wrote one user on Sina Weibo, using an ironic term for authorities’ blocking of objectionable content. “Why? Give us a reason first!”
“When will this country be able to face the attitudes of its own people?” another user wrote.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS