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 100 million hits online.
Under the Dome, an independent documentary produced by former Chinese state media journalist Chai Jing (柴靜), was no longer available on popular Chinese video sites, including Youku and iQiyi, yesterday afternoon.
A link on Youku’s Web site 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 racked up more than 155 million views on Chinese video streaming sites in just one day after its release on Saturday last week.
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.
She has described the video as her “personal battle” against air pollution after her daughter was born with a benign tumor.
The removal of the documentary underscores the Chinese 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.
Chinese Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining (陳吉寧) 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, is under way 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 the Sina Weibo microblogging Web site yesterday voiced frustration with the government’s abrupt censorship move.
“Chai Jing’s documentary, Under the Dome, has already been ‘harmonized’ on all of the mainstream video sites,” wrote one user on Sina Weibo, using an ironic term for authorities’ blocking of objectionable content. “Why? Give us a reason first!”
“When will this country be able to face the attitudes of its own people?” another user wrote.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS