![\"(Image](\"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/main_chaijing_meitu_1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Image by Under the Dome )<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In 2013 Chai\u2019s unborn daughter was found to have a tumour. Thankfully it was not malignant and treatment after the birth was successful, and Chai quit work last year to look after her daughter.<\/p>\n
Chai was formerly one of CCTV\u2019s most highly-regarded investigative reporters. In 2013 a memoir of her ten years at the station became one of the year\u2019s best-sellers. The royalties from that book funded her documentary.<\/p>\n
As Beijing\u2019s smog became more intense, Chai\u2019s anger increased as she found it found it more difficult to have a normal life with her newborn daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Smog) casts a shadow over our entire lives.\u201d she says. Beijing experienced 175 smoggy days during 2014, and \u201cfor half the year I had to keep her locked up like a prisoner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the morning I\u2019ll sometimes find her standing at the window pressing her hand to the glass, showing me she wants to go out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The documentary\u2019s title is a reference to a US science fiction novel and TV series of the same name. In the novel, written by bestselling author Stephen King, an invisible and mysterious force field descends upon a small fictional town, trapping residents inside and cutting them off from the rest of civilisation.<\/p>\n
Chai decided to investigate the problem of China\u2019s chronic air pollution in what she terms her \u201cprivate grudge with the smog.\u201d Chai explained that \u201ceverything I did was so I could answer the questions she\u2019ll ask: what is smog? Where does it come from? What can we do about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
To find the answers to those three questions, Chai visited polluted sites all over China. She also visited Los Angeles and London to find answers on how foreign cities had dealt with air pollution.<\/p>\n
\u2018Under the Dome\u2019 explains what smog is, the harm it does, how it is formed and the problems in dealing with it, as well as what individuals can do. Chai said that smog is largely an energy problem \u2013 60% of China\u2019s air pollution comes from burning coal and oil, and in 2013 China burned more coal than all other nations combined. She also shines a light on the management and system failures that are the reasons behind smog.<\/p>\n
Poses questions on environment, growth<\/strong><\/p>\n In an interview with People.com.cn, Chai said that in the past her reports on smog had been factual, reporting on polluting companies or local governments in pursuit of economic growth. And she herself was unsure: do we want to grow, or protect the environment?<\/p>\n But this year of investigation has led her to feel that there is no conflict between the two. Air pollution isn\u2019t the outcome of reform and opening up, and in fact fuller market reforms are needed to solve it.<\/p>\n Nor is environmental protection a burden, in Chai\u2019s view. For her, greener laws are a source of innovation that will promote competitiveness, employment and growth. Overseas experiences are used to back her view.<\/p>\n In Chai\u2019s narrative, the problem of smog can be solved if government reduces unnecessary intervention and allows markets to be the primary allocator of resources. The role of government is essential to set policy and enforce laws, the former news anchor says, but so is a fair and competitive market to help spur innovative solutions to pollution. Both these are in line with the current direction of reform in China, she says.<\/p>\n Chai has sent the material she gathered during filming to the committee drafting a revision of China\u2019s air pollution law, in the hope it will be of some use. She also got a response when she sent the same materials to the group working on plans for reform of China\u2019s oil and gas sector.<\/p>\n Timing<\/strong> Well-known Phoenix TV commentator Cao Jingxing tweeted \u201cThank you, Chai Jing, every committee member, representative and official at the Lianghui should watch this.\u201d<\/p>\n But Chai\u2019s film has also drawn criticism from those who say it is unscientific to blame her daughter\u2019s illness on smog, and that the use of her daughter has made the investigation less objective.<\/p>\n Chai\u2019s former colleague and CCTV anchor Cui Yongyuan told media that Chai would likely have to run the gauntlet of pedantic questions and online abuse. A year ago, he put out his own self-funded investigative documentary querying the safety of genetically-engineered food, \u2018The Gene Report\u2019, the findings of which were rebutted by government officials.<\/p>\n Cui adds that the two films would, deliberately or otherwise, affect vested interests. He adds: \u201cIf (officials or companies) lose face, and if they lose money or an official promotion, they will attack you.\u201d<\/p>\n China\u2019s \u2018Silent Spring\u2019?<\/strong> Li adds that the timing of the documentary is particularly interesting. The Communist Party-led congress that starts this week, the appointment of Chen Jining, and the Chinese leadership\u2019s widening anti-corruption campaign.<\/p>\n Chen has said that watching the film reminded him of the global concern for the environment that Rachel Carson\u2019s 1962 book \u2018Silent Spring\u2019 created, and that Chai\u2019s documentary was of particular significance for raising public interest in the environment and the health problems pollution can cause.<\/p>\n He added said that his ministry and the media are on the same side, and that \u2018Under the Dome\u2019 demonstrates an interaction between the government, society and the media.<\/p>\n The impact of the documentary has even resonated strongly with China\u2019s STOCK MARKETS, where shares in companies that make anti-pollution equipment soared on Monday, prompting equities in some environmental technology companies to soar beyond their trading limits.<\/p>\n Source: www.thethirdpole.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After her unborn daughter was diagnosed with a tumour, former CCTV reporter Chai Jing quit her job and self-funded a one million yuan (US$160,000) documentary on China\u2019s smog. \u2018Under the Dome\u2019 took a year to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-third-pole"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1145,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions\/1145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Sina columnist Entertainment Capitalism praised Chai\u2019s media savvy in winning attention in the run up to annual meetings of China\u2019s Communist Party top brass in March, which are known in Chinese as \u2018Lianghui\u2019.<\/p>\n
\nThe sensation caused by Chai\u2019s film has taken Chinese commentators by surprise. Li Jiangtao, a senior scholar at Tsinghua University\u2019s Institute of Economics, says in his blog that three factors had combined to make the documentary interesting to viewers: a big event (China\u2019s smog), a strong human angle involving a well-known TV anchor, and growing concerns about the environment.<\/p>\n