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Under the dome: New case of censorship in China?

17 March 2015
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A week after release, the documentary "Under the dome", about air pollution in China, became completely inaccessible on the country’s video sharing websites, informs thesar.com.my, with reference to the Beijing office of Reuters News Agency.
 
The film by journalist Chai Jing was gaining an unprecedented popularity (over 200 millions views) among internet users. Even the website of the Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily, posted the video on its website, while not answering repeated calls requesting comment as soon as it disappeared. At the same time, big websites such as Youku and Tencent, as well as little ones, have shut the documentary down; it is still available on Youtube, which is blocked in China.
 
The documentary was prohibited shortly after a glimmer of optimism rose about the Chinese government's commitment to engage in fighting air pollution. During the annual opening session of Parliament, Premier Li Keqiang said that the government "must strictly enforce environmental laws and regulations; crack down on those guilty of creating illegal emissions and ensure they pay a heavy price for such offenses".
 
However, at a recent press conference, the new minister of environmental protection, Zhou Shengxian, neither mentioned Chai Jing’s documentary or answered the foreign journalists’ questions about air pollution in Chinese cities.