China: documentary fuels emission control debate

This comes ahead of a high-profile session of the Chinese parliament that begins on Thursday

A woman wearing a face mask on the Bund during a hazy day in downtown Shanghai in January.

A new documentary highlighting the hazards of smog in China, which has gone viral on the Internet, is set to fuel an energetic debate on emission controls during a high-profile session of the Chinese parliament that begins on Thursday.

The hard hitting documentary by Chai Jing, a former anchor of CCTV — the state-run television broadcaster — which makes skilful use of the camera and follows a direct, personalised storytelling technique, has already got favourable official response.

China’s environment minister, Chen Jining, compared

Under the Dome — the name of Ms. Chai’s film — to

Silent Spring , the 1962 book by Rachel Carson that triggered the environment movement in the United States. The film, carefully timed before the “political season” in China, is hardly an anti-establishment anthem.

On the contrary, it amplifies one of the core aspects of “Chinese Dream,” a pet slogan of President Xi Jinping. Mr. Xi visualises the emergence of an environment-friendly China, where prosperity is not channelled into consumerism but into rational, eco-friendly consumption as part for his “Dream.”

People’s Daily , the official newspaper of the Chinese government, acknowledges that ahead of Thursday’s session of the National People's Congress (NPC), a poll has shown that “pollution control and environmental protection remains one of the biggest areas of public concern.” The NPC session is being preceded by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — a consultative forum in which delegates drawn from all over the country.

Pollution app

With the national sentiment against pollution spiralling, Chinese authorities have launched an app on social media forum WeChat that allows the public to report polluting practices to the authorities. On Monday, Pan Yue, the vice minister for environment, who announced the new initiative, pointed out that a “large number of regulations exist in name only and perform practically no function.”

As the Chinese planners embark on the difficult process of transitioning towards an innovation and enterprise oriented economy, the market for “clean energy” products is expected to rise. Global Times — a newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party of China (CPC) — is reporting that shares in 18 environmental protection-related companies on the mainland capital market surged on Monday after the documentary was released.

“The documentary has greatly raised the public’s awareness and knowledge on environmental protection, which will surely benefit the growth of the industry,” the daily quoted an official from a pharmaceutical company that produces anti-smog masks. The output of China’s energy-saving and environmental protection sector is expected to reach $719.5 billion dollars in 2015.