You may have already read about the video that's been going viral in China like nothing else recently: a nearly two-hour documentary by investigative reporter Chai Jing into the causes, effects, and remedies for China's massive air pollution problems.
NPR:
Two hundred million and counting: That's how many times a documentary about China's massive air pollution problem has been viewed online since the weekend. Environmentalists are hailing it as an eye-opener for Chinese citizens.
The Guardian:
It has wedged open a relatively opaque window on facts and figures, lifted the lid on how lax the system is on polluting industries, and how serious pollution is all across China – not just in the symbolic capital of Beijing.
"Under the Dome" was originally produced with Chinese subtitles (a requirement in a country where more than one spoken language shares a common written language). Now a crowd-sourced effort has translated those subtitles into English.
You might balk at starting a video of nearly two hours, but just watch the first five minutes, and you'll be hooked. Ms. Chai is brilliantly captivating, relentless in her quest for knowledge, and absolutely fearless in her questioning of everyone from the manager of a construction site in her neighborhood to the highest officials of the Chinese government.
A few minor notes of explanation: "MEP", the Ministry of Environmental Protection, is China's equivalent of our EPA; and the Chinese renminbi (RMB) is worth about 16 cents US.