BEIJING: 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 150 million hits online.

“Under the Dome”, an independent documentary produced by former Chinese state media journalist Chai Jing, was no longer available on popular mainland video sites, including Youku and iQiyi, as of Saturday afternoon.

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A link on Youku’s website 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 had racked up more than 155 million views on mainland Chinese video streaming sites just one day after its release last on Saturday.

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.

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She has described the video as her “personal battle” against air pollution after her daughter was born with a benign tumour. The removal of the documentary underscores the ruling 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.

China’s newly-appointed environmental protection minister, Chen Jining, 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 (NPC), is underway 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 China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Saturday voiced frustration with the government’s abrupt censorship move.

“Chai Jing’s documentary, ‘Under the Dome’, has already been ‘harmonised’on all of the mainstream video sites,” wrote one user on Sina Weibo, using anironic term for authorities’ blocking of objectionable content.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2015

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