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.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS