In a bold move, former CCTV presenter Chai Jing independently produced a gripping piece of journalism on smog that has caused a rekindling of the public debate about China’s air quality.
“Under The Dome” (穹顶之下) draws on Chai Jing’s presenting skills as she holds a talk to a captive audience in order to answer three questions: “What is smog? Where does it come from? What can we do about it?” The journalist, who has made a name as TV presenter, made use all of her connections in the media industry to include short expert interviews, material from her previous work with CCTV and even animation to tell her story.
In order to really get her message across, the journalist not only quotes the complex numbers and talks about all the PM 2.5 and PM 10 values, that float about in other media reports; she uses simple language and the aforementioned animation in particular to explain in a simple, easy to understand way what air pollution is doing to our bodies.
“We didn’t know it was pollution”
One observation on lingustics offers us a deeper insight into Chinese society and the pollution issue as a whole. “We have only become aware of the serious smog problem over the last three or four years, yet people have been dying from air pollution for a much longer period of time. Why did we not know?” asks Chai.
Her explanation is simple; in 2004, when smog was just as bad as it is a decade later, the word smog was not used in official language, not in the media and not in politics. Instead, it was fog. Looking back at her own reports of that period, she found many articles discussing the “foggy weather” in Beijing, which caused serious delays to flights at the time. This is where the subject gets sensitive; who is to blame for the misidentification of the harming air pollution for almost a decade? Is it simply the same inaccuracy of the Chinese language that has seen English-speaking news outlets feverishly discuss whether it is the year of the sheep, goat or ram? Or is there an even darker scheme behind it all?
Personal Narrative
While the young mother does criticize the lack of awareness of the severity of the situation in the past, she steers clear of directly attacking the government. Instead, the whole report is packaged in a rather personal narrative of the birth of her daughter. The arrival of the child, who was born with lung cancer, in this world brought to her mother the shocking realization that this little girl she loved so much might grow up to never see the blue sky and spend most of her days locked up in her home because the air would be too harmful to her developing lungs to be doing sports outside.
That the love of a mother is a powerful motivator is indisputable the world over; in this case, Chai used it in combination with her impressive journalistic skills to understand what was really going on in her surroundings.
It was not the first time she reported on pollution. Her focus on environmental issues even earned her the “Green Person of the Year Award” in 2007 from the China Environmental Culture Promotion Association (CECPA). Her talk includes scenes from interviews conducted in 2004 in Shanxi province, including disgruntled locals and a little girl, who as it emerges during the interview, has never seen a truly blue sky or clouds, prompting Chai’s realization that “this could be my daughter”.
Mixed Reactions
As was to be expected, Chai Jing’s piece has attracted vast amounts of attention and commentary. Facilitated by the internet age and her previous fame as CCTV presenter, her report spread like wildfire on the Chinese web, racking up over 100 million views within days of its release on 28th February.
Probably her most impressive supporter is to be found within the rows of the Chinese government; Chen Jining, recently appointed as China’s minister of environment, is full of praise for the self-funded piece of journalism, and thanked Chai for her work in his official statement.
However, not everyone was so accepting of Chai’s documentary and the way in which she offered to the public, disassociated of any news agency and for free download on the internet. Accusations have been made that she lacks professional objectivity due to the fact that her daughter was born with lung cancer, alleging that this has resulted in one-sided reporting. Some of the information she quotes, such as the effect of pollution on unborn babies, have not necessarily been scientifically proven, say her opponents. Others go even further and suggest that Chai is just catering to the public’s taste, which include recurring debate on the blatant problem of air pollution, in order to get attention and possibly further her own goals.
Even more tasteless reactions have included a mud-slinging match aimed at discrediting the journalist in the public eye; reports suggesting the family purchased an American citizenship for the child are being turned into criticism that she is not patriotic (although considering the topic of her report, such a measure seems understandable from a human standpoint) and that the reporter is having an affair. None of these revelations really correlate in any way to the content of her exposé but still attempt to undermine her on the lowest possible level, as is so often the case with people who make bold statements the world over.
The camp of conspiracy theorists such as online user fenfengongerfenfa even claim that the whole documentary was funded by either the US or NATO, no doubt in an attempt to embarass the local government and destabilize the country’s harmonious society.
Yet, in the grand scheme of things reactions are very positive, resonating with a public that is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the status quo.
Nanjing’s Anti-Pollution Measures A Drop in the Ocean?
While it is undeniable that there is discontent throughout the country with regard to the decreasing air quality, the question remains what can be done about it. Chai suggests moving away from coal as a resource and replacing the heavy polluter instead with gas and new energy.
In Nanjing, such measures are in fact already underway. Just last week saw renewed efforts by Nanjing’s government to clean up the air with Jiangning bus group introducing the first batch of gas-electric hybrid buses, which are able to run entirely on electricity, on February 12th before the Spring Festival.
Following this move was the announcement on 27th February that Nanjing’s public bike scheme, which has seen bike stations appear all over the city, was going to unify and expand in 2015. Nanjing currently has a public bike system in place in five districts throughout Nanjing, namely Jianye, Gulou, Jiangning, Xianlin and Pukou; though in the past they were all run by separate companies, March finally sees a standardization with one card for all, now making it possible to take the bikes outside of their original districts, making the entire system infinitely more practical. Currently the city sports 560 bike stops with 16 000 bikes in circulation. Within the next three years the city has grand plans for the green traveling scheme, announcing their intention to build up 2000 bike stations with a total of 70 000 of the environmental-friendly velos.
Though these measures are a promising step towards a greener future, they might just be a drop in the ocean compared to the masses of serious pollutants such as on-going construction and factories residing in Jiangsu province. In order to assure clear blue skies during the December period of 2014, due to the previous year’s drastic air conditions but also in honour of Mr. Xi’s visit, construction had to entirely shut down for clear skies to be able to appear.
Similarly, Chai’s conclusion to the pollution problem, while admirable, presents a number of challenges in practice. For one, the country’s large coal resources and the time and investment needed for a conversion to gas and new resources are financially unattractive; and fact is, it is the money that ultimately makes the decision. For a developing country, whose focus is on economic growth, neither Chai’s nor the Nanjing solution of total shutdown seem to be tempting options; and so it remains to be seen how much this report will actually impact the country on a macro scale.
What is to be said for Chai Jing either way, is that the young woman has produced an impressive piece of journalism and to that we tip our hat.
Watch the documentary “Under The Dome” in Chinese w/ English subtitles here (VPN required).
Watch the documentary “Under The Dome” in Chinese w/ Chinese subtitles here.
