[E023]Under the dome:Documentary on China's pollution goes viral

A slick[光滑的；华而不实的；聪明的；熟练的；老套的] new documentary on China’s environmental woes[环境问题] has racked up[击倒，获胜] more than 175 million online views in two days, underscoring growing concern in the country over the impact of air, water and soil pollution. Hosted by[主办单位；由…主持的] former state television reporter Chai Jing, “Under the Dome” offers a well-produced[做好准备的] look at the cost to the environment of 30 years of breakneck economic development. Chai discusses the issues before a studio audience while standing in front of a screen showing videos of polluting industries, interviews with affected people and visits by her to sites in China and abroad illustrating[图解说明] the extent of[在…的范围内；到…的程度] the problem.

[The documentary reflects] growing public concern over environmental protection and threats to human health.

Chinese Environment Minister Chen Jining

Chai said she was moved to produce the 104-minute documentary out of concern[出于对……] for the effect of pollution on her infant daughter’s health. The documentary was posted online on Saturday. By Monday evening, it had more than 175 million views on popular video sites Youku and Tencent. Better produced than much of the stodgy[平凡的；塞满的；庸俗的] fare[票价；费用；旅客；食物] on state television, it falls stylistically[ 在文体上] somewhere between a TED talk and Al Gore’s[阿尔戈尔（前美国副总统）] 2006 Academy Award-winning documentary[奥斯卡最佳纪录片奖] “An Inconvenient Truth.”[难以忽视的真相] The documentary prompted[引起] wide speculation[投机；推测；思索；投机买卖] over how much official support Chai received and whether the production was truly independent or just an example of slick, viewer-friendly state publicity.

The environment is a sensitive issue that concerns the interests of all sides. Fighting pollution enjoys broad support from the public and … can also be used as leverage[手段，影响力；杠杆作用；杠杆效率] to promote changes to the economic structure in the future.

Yu Guoming, a journalism professor at Beijing’s Renmin University