Under the Dome – China’s Severe Smog

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Dr Hao Tan discusses recent documentary "Under The Dome" and its possible implications for China's environmental movement in Financial Times page

Under the Dome – China’s Severe Smog

Severe smog that has frequently occurred in China during the recent years is well-known. However, it took one documentary, Chai Jing's "Under the Dome', for that to become 'the' event in China's public discussion. 

In this piece published in UK Financial Times' Chinese website, Dr Hao Tan discusses possible implications of the documentary to China's environmental movement and the country's energy and environmental policies. Particular comparisons are drawn between 'Under the Dome' and Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring. Dr Tan notes some striking similarities shared by the two, as well as some unique challenges facing the documentary that Silent Spring did not experience.

Read the full article here (in Chinese).

The piece has been not only reposted or cited by media outlets such as the official website of Lianhe Zaobao, the largest Chinese newspaper in Singapore, but also disseminated widely in weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter). Several microblogging opinion leaders have reposted the piece in their weibos. For example, in the weibo of a popular weibo user who has over 30 million followers, the piece has received 311 'reposts', 110 comments and 245 'likes'. In the weibo of another user with 135k followers, the piece received 584 'reposts', 130 comments and 175 'likes'. In another with 123k followers, the piece was reposted 363 times.

Dr Tan has also written a piece in the Conversation on this topic. You can read that article in full here.

Learn more about Dr Tan at his Researcher Profile.

Contact

  • Dr Hao Tan
  • Phone: (02) 4921 6748

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