Under the Dome (film)

This article is about a 2015 Chinese environmental documentary film. For the science-fiction television series, see Under the Dome (TV series).

Under the Dome
Pollution in Chengdu in 2014, as depicted in Under the Dome
穹顶之下 (qióngdǐng zhī xià)
Directed byMing Fan
Produced byChai Jing
CinematographyXinqiang Hou
Release date
  • 28 February 2015 (2015-02-28)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin
BudgetCN¥1m (US$160,000)[1]

Under the Dome (Chinese: 穹顶之下; pinyin: Qióngdǐng zhī xià) is a 2015 self-financed Chinese documentary by Chai Jing, a former China Central Television journalist, and Ming Fan,[2] the documentary director, her long-term working partner at CCTV, concerning air pollution in China. It was viewed over 150 million times on Tencent within three days of its release and had been viewed a further 150 million times by the time it was taken offline four days later.

Chai Jing started making the documentary when her as yet unborn daughter developed a tumor in the womb, which had to be removed very soon after her birth. Chai blames China's air pollution for the tumor. The film, which blends a lecture format with personal narratives, expert interviews, and on-site factory footage, has frequently been likened to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Scholars note similarities in their didactic approach, the integration of scientific data with compelling visuals, and their shared objective of galvanizing public discourse and political action on environmental crises. The film openly criticizes state-owned energy companies, steel producers and coal factories, as well as showing the inability of the Ministry of Environmental Protection to act against the big polluters.

Despite demonstrating the failure of China's regulations on pollution, the Chinese government at first did not censor the film. Instead, the People's Daily reposted the film alongside an interview with Chai, while Chen Jining, the recently appointed minister for environmental protection, praised the film, expressing in a text message his gratitude.[3] However, within a week, the Communist Party’s publicity department confidentially ordered the film to be removed. An employee of China Business News was suspended for leaking the order.

Synopsis

The documentary is narrated by Chai, who presents the results of her year-long research mostly in the form of a lecture, reminiscent of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. The Great Smog of 1952 in London served as historical evidence that Chai used while creating her film.[3] She reveals footage and data from factory visits and interviews with government officials, environmental experts and business owners.[4] She also speaks with officials from London and Los Angeles on how their respective cities have managed to deal with historic issues of pollution.[5] She says she has a personal grudge against smog, and sets out to answer three questions: What is smog? Where does it come from? And what can we do about it? Her TED Talk-style delivery, interspersed with animations, interviews, and data visualizations, forms a hybrid mode of environmental journalism that has been interpreted as a strategic appeal to both emotion and scientific authority. For the rest of this 104 min-long ‘Ted Talk-style’ film, she answers these questions, using animations, charts, interviews, historical clips, and site visits.

Within the documentary, Chai features two child figures, one being her baby daughter in Beijing, and the other a six-year-old in Shanxi, both victims of air pollution.[3] Chai begins with the story of her daughter's tumor in utero and its removal shortly after her birth. Chai claims the tumor was caused by air pollution.[1][6] She must keep her daughter inside "like a prisoner" on days where the air quality is particularly bad, which Chai's measurements indicated were about half of the days in 2014.[7] In her interview with the six-year-old, Chai asks, "Have you ever seen a real star?" The child responds, "No." “What about blue sky?” Chai asks. The girl says, “I’ve seen one that’s a little blue." “What about white clouds?” Chai asks. “No, I haven’t,” the child replies.[7]

The film shows that China is losing its "war on pollution,” which was officially launched by Premier Li Keqiang on March 5, 2014.[8][9] She advocates cleaning up dirty energy in China to current US standards, by washing coal, using better quality oil, installing filters, and other clean-up technology. She advocates replacing coal, the dirtiest energy source, with natural gas and oil.[10] The targets of her film include state-owned oil companies such as China National Petroleum Corporation, which has also been the subject of the government's anti-corruption crackdown.[1] Chai also criticizes PetroChina and Sinopec.[11] The film shows how state-owned enterprises like PetroChina and Sinopec effectively set lenient production standards and resist regulatory enforcement due to political connections and economic clout. Steel producers and coal plants also ignore regulations to maximize profits.[8] Chai visits a steel producer in Hebei province with a government inspector to measure levels of pollutants. Months later, it has yet to pay its fines but a provincial official tells her that it is not possible to shut down such factories and sacrifice employment for the sake of the environment.[6]

Towards the end of the film, Chai urges individuals to take responsibility. She convinces a restaurant to use more environmentally sound equipment. She says: "This is how history is made. With thousands of ordinary people one day saying, 'No, I'm not satisfied, I don't want to wait. I want to stand up and do a little something.'"[12]

Academic Reception

Scholars have noted that Under the Dome marks a significant moment in China’s environmental discourse. Wang and He (2017) describe it as a "turning point in Chinese environmental communication," arguing that it bridged the gap between investigative journalism and popular mobilization before being censored. The film’s rapid suppression, despite its viral success, highlights ongoing tensions between public engagement and state control in China’s digital media landscape.

Release and ban

Release

Under the Dome was released online February 28, 2015, on the Saturday preceding the meetings of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The documentary was initially streamed on three major internet platforms, including Tencent, Youku, and the People's Daily Online, which is the online version of the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. The documentary was viewed more than 147 million times on Tencent on the evening of March 2 and received abundant discussion online.[8] Many mainstream online platforms including Sohu, NetEase, and Sina, also posted reviews about the documentary soon after its release. Traditional newspapers, however, did not respond to the documentary, with the Beijing Youth Daily posted a review of the documentary 'Chai Jing: My Personal Battle with Smog' as its headline on March 1, 2015, being the only exception.[13]

Ban

After the initial surge in viewers for the documentary, the Chinese government blocked access to the online video.[7] By the end of March 1, 2015, all reports and reviews about the documentary Under the Dome were withdrawn from online websites including the People’s Daily Online and other mainstream platforms.[1][8][14] The documentary was banned on March 7, 2015, in mainland China, by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party. The reason of banning was said to be the pressure of public perception of smog and the fear of collective action of the people.[3] The advocation for grassroots movements from everyday people, as witnessed at the end of the film, instead of obeying the top-down hierarchical system in place in China was probably another factor that contributed to the ban.[7] The documentary featured blatant environmental violations by factories and frank speech by authoritative figures, reasoning that punishments would likely do more harm by hurting the economy and people's livelihoods.[15]

Removal and censorship of Under the Dome from various websites caused a stir and prompted discussion among netizens across Chinese social media platforms.[3] On Weibo, the topic reached 330 million views and over 740,000 comments.[4] Upon release of Under the Dome, Chai Jing had access to official web-channels and the online network.[3] Early support shown by officials and access to official online platforms prompted speculation over government environmental policy and interest. However, the fact that the film was first lauded by the Communist Party official, but then subsequently banned, illustrates the internal debate within the Chinese government over tackling the country’s dire pollution problems.[16] The banning of the film in China evoked considerable criticism from within as Zhan Jiang, a professor of journalism and media studies in Beijing, declared that the documentary had “been spirited away by gremlins.”[16] The contradictory actions of the government on Under the Dome—from supportive to against—implies that social media and censorship under China’s current conditions appear paradoxical and competitive in a political fashion.[3]

Impact

According to the BBC, Under the Dome had garnered more than 100 million views online before its removal.[17] A large number of netizens expressed their support for the documentary, and formed new views on China's haze problem after watching the film. In fact, phone calls to the Ministry of Environmental Protections hotline number (12369) increased 240% after the film was released online.[3] More than 80% of viewers said that they are deeply concerned about air pollution in China. Around 70% of viewers said that they changed their view of smog and developed a better comprehension of the problem. Over 75% expressed a willingness to restrict car and air conditioner usage and take public transportation. Moreover, viewers believed that official bureaus, heavy-industry emitters, and legislatures should be accountable for the smog problem.[3]

The film resonated with parents, who had for years been expressing fears about the negative impact that air pollution was having on the health of their children, with many parents keeping their children inside as much as possible to lessen the negative impacts of pollutant levels that were forty times higher than the recommended exposure limits.[16]

Beyond its profound domestic impact, Under the Dome also garnered considerable international attention, being widely reported by global media outlets and sparking discussions among international environmental organizations about China's pollution challenges and its approach to environmental activism.

While receiving many positive responses, criticism of the documentary also emerged among the public. Some doubted that the numeric data on air pollutant emissions as well as the impacts on human health caused by smog were accurate and reliable; some even believed that these data had actually been forged by Chai Jing.[4] Some argued that Chai Jing, through her celebrity social status, was speaking for the welfare of well-off middle-class elites instead of ordinary citizens and the low-income groups, because the latter groups have fewer opportunities to adapt to air pollution. Others still held doubts about the credibility of Chai Jing’s maternal position and how that related to the air pollution with her baby’s medical operation.[3][1]

Governmental reactions

Under the Dome being aired via the People’s Daily Online—the flagship website of the Chinese Communist Party—indicated that the documentary may have received official support, and been facilitating government environmental policy or speaking for official interests.[3] As a former China Central Television (CCTV) anchorwoman and investigative journalist, Chai Jing had access to resources and gained support from both official web-channels and experts from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Energy Administration. After the release, government officials also held a positive attitude towards the documentary. On March 1, 2015, China's new Minister of Environmental Protection, Chen Jining, praised the documentary as "worthy of admiration" just after the release in an inaugural news conference with Chinese reporters in Beijing. He compared it with Rachel Carson's book of 1962, Silent Spring, which is said to have given impetus to the environmental movement in the United States.[1] He also declared, “I think this work has an important role in promoting public awareness of environmental health issues, so I’m particularly pleased about this event.”[16] Moreover, Chinese leader Xi Jinping declared in his own address to the Chinese National People's Congress meeting on March 6 that, "We are going to punish, with an iron hand, any violators who destroy the ecology or the environment, with no exceptions."[18]

However, four days after the release, Under the Dome was censored and taken down from social media by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, reflecting the fraught political climate surrounding environmental discourse in China. Scholars have noted the contradiction between the state’s initial support and its later censorship of the film, citing this as evidence of ideological tension within the party’s messaging on ecological modernization (Golley, 2016; Stern, 2016).” It was said that this abrupt ban was because that the central government was faced with the pressure of public perception seeing smog as an urgent and serious problem, and fear of collective reaction online that asked for major changes in relevant legislation.[3] After the ban, some media outlets believed that Chen Jining intentionally avoided talking about Under the Dome in his first press conference while still emphasizing the achievements accomplished by the government regarding environmental issues, as well as appealing to the people on their own responsibilities to reduce the smog. He did not mention the circumstances around the CNPC or other state-owned enterprises.[19]

The documentary also cast former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, in a negative light, prioritizing national GDP-increasing policies that damaged the environment. State-owned enterprises such as PetroChina and Sinopec, who are both guilty of environmental destruction, both greatly prospered under those ill economic policies, which were addressed in this film.[20]

Public Awareness and Risk Perception

A 2021 empirical study involving 523 Beijing residents found that exposure to the documentary significantly raised risk perception of air pollution—yet it did not necessarily increase factual knowledge.

Industry and business

Immediately following the documentary's release, on March 2, 2015, the stock prices of several environmental companies saw significant surges, trading up to ten percent higher. This market reaction reflected investor anticipation of increased government investment in environmental remediation and green technologies, including pollutant treatment, air quality monitoring, and renewable energy solutions, as a direct consequence of the film's heightened public awareness..[4] In Hong Kong, the shares of BYD Company, a maker of electric vehicles, rose nearly seven percent.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wildau, Gabriel (2 March 2015). "Smog film captivates Chinese internet". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  2. ^ "Ming Fan", Wikipedia, 2 October 2024, retrieved 2 October 2024
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cui, Shuqin (27 December 2016). "Chai Jing's Under the Dome: A multimedia documentary in the digital age". Journal of Chinese Cinemas. 11 (1): 30–45. doi:10.1080/17508061.2016.1269481. ISSN 1750-8061. S2CID 193714222.
  4. ^ a b c d Shao, Heng (2 March 2015). "Only in China: Why A Smog Documentary Sends Chinese Stocks Soaring To Trading Limit". Forbes Asia. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Smog film goes viral in China with 155 mil. views in one day". The China Post. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  6. ^ a b Hatton, Celia (2 March 2015). "Under the Dome: The climate film taking China by storm". BBC News China Blog. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d Mufson, Steven (16 March 2015). "This documentary went viral in China. Then it was censored. It won't be forgotten". Washington Post.
  8. ^ a b c d Tiezzi, Shannon (3 March 2015). "Can a Documentary Change the Course of China's 'War on Pollution'?". The Diplomat. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  9. ^ Hornby, Lucy (5 March 2014). "China declares war on pollution". Financial Times.
  10. ^ Powers, Diana S (12 November 2015). "'Under the Dome' on Chinese air pollution, a documentary by Chai Jing". Journal of Public Health Policy. 37 (1): 98–106. doi:10.1057/jphp.2015.40. ISSN 0197-5897. PMID 26559894. S2CID 29699618.
  11. ^ Coonan, Clifford (3 March 2015). "China Pollution Documentary Draws 200 Million Clicks Amid Smog Concerns". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  12. ^ Tharoor, Ishaan (3 March 2015). "China's biggest viral video right now is this two-hour-long documentary on pollution". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  13. ^ "柴静：这是我和雾霾私人恩怨_腾讯网". xw.qq.com. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  14. ^ Wildau, Gabriel (3 March 2015). "China censors curb discussion of pollution documentary". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  15. ^ Ren, Yuan (5 March 2015). "Under the Dome: will this film be China's environmental awakening? | Yuan Ren". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  16. ^ a b c d Wong, Edward (6 March 2015). "China Blocks Web Access to 'Under the Dome' Documentary on Pollution". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  17. ^ "China takes Under the Dome anti-pollution film offline". BBC News. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  18. ^ Golley, Jane (2016). "1 WATER 水: UNDER THE DOME". In Davies, Gloria; Goldkorn, Jeremy; Tomba, Luigi (eds.). WATER 水: UNDER THE DOME. ANU Press. pp. 19–38. ISBN 978-1-76046-068-6. JSTOR j.ctt1rqc934.7. Retrieved 14 June 2021. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  19. ^ "中国环保部长记者会回避柴静雾霾片". 美国之音 (Voice of America). Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  20. ^ "中国全面封杀《穹顶之下》 "该视频已被屏蔽"_国际_新闻中心_新浪网-北美". dailynews.sina.com. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  21. ^ "Film renews focus on Chinese pollution ahead of annual congress". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.

22. Cui, S. (2017). Chai Jing’s Under the Dome: A multimedia documentary in the digital age. Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 11(1), 30–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508061.2016.1269481

23. Chai, J. (2015, February 28). Under the Dome [Video]. YouTube. 柴静雾霾调查: 纪录片《穹顶之下》. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6X2uwlQGQM.

24. Golley, J. (2016). China’s environment in the ‘new normal’: Historical legacies and emerging trends. China & World Economy, 24(3), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-124X.2016.12093.x

25. Stern, R. E. (2016). The political logic of China’s air pollution governance. The China Journal, (75), 53–76. https://doi.org/10.1086/684010

26. Chen, X., & Liu, X. (2021). How Do Environmental News and the Under the Dome Documentary Influence Risk Perception? SAGE Open, 11(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211015712

27. Only In China: Why A Smog Documentary Sends Chinese Stocks Soaring To Trading Limit. (2015, March 2). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/hengshao/2015/03/02/only-in-china-why-a-smog-documentary-sends-chinese-stocks-soaring-beyond-trading-limit/

28. Chen, Y., & Liu, X. (2021). How do environmental news and the Under the Dome documentary influence resident risk perceptions of smog? SAGE Open, 11(4), 1–17. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21582440211015712?utm_source=chatgpt.com

29. Huang, J., & Yang, J. Z. (2020). Beyond Under the Dome: An environmental documentary amplified public risk perception about air pollution in China. Journal of Risk Research, 23(2), 227–241. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13669877.2019.1569090?utm_source=chatgpt.com

30. Golley, J. (2016). Under the dome. In G. Davies, J. Goldkorn, & L. Tomba (Eds.), China Story Yearbook 2015: Pollution (pp. 21–37). ANU Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1rqc934.7?seq=4

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