The film that is going to change China

—— PETER CAI

“When Rachel Carson wrote ‘Silent Spring’ in 1962, it brought environmental concerns home to tens of millions of ordinary Americans. It led to an overhaul of the national pesticide policy, resulting in the banning of DTT and other forms of synthetic pesticides.

The book was a clarion call to action for environmental activists in the 1960s. The powerful book has been widely credited for shaping the US and global environmental policies for decades. Over the weekend and behind the Great Firewall of China, a leading investigative reporter Chai Jing produced a stunning documentary on the smog problem that could one day rival the impact of “silent spring” as the turning point for the environmental movement in China.

The 143-minute documentary was viewed more than 100 million times in little over two days. It was viewed 126 million times on Tencent’s popular video site alone and it has completely galvanised the country’s attention. Chai’s documentary film was the most discussed topic on the country’s social media platforms and there were 280 million posts relating to her film “Under the Dome” on Sina Weibo, a micro-blogging site.

China’s new Environment Minister Chen Jining, a renowned environmental scientist, had already sent his congratulatory note to the journalist, expressing his admiration. Chai’s choice of title for the documentary is telling, “Under the Dome” is an American science fiction series about a little town called Chester Mill that is being cut from the rest of the world by a massive and indestructible dome.”