We foreigners pass judgement on the terrible pollution in cities like Beijing and Tianjin and Baoding and hundreds of other cities, but does the average Chinese citizen care?

You bet. Just consider the case of the video posted yesterday by Chai Jing. Ms Chai was a relatively famous TV personality in China, who gave up her job to investigate and examine the pollution situation around the country. She released a 5 minute video on line yesterday, which at the time of this post had secured 100 million views. That’s 100 million in 24 hours, an incredible result on many levels.

The video itself, called “Under the Dome”, link here, shows scenes that we who know China are well used to. Some scenes seem a little scripted, such as when she asks a child if she has ever seen the stars in the night sky, to which the girl answers no. But the fact that 100 million people have viewed the video speaks volumes for how much of an issue pollution is to the average Chinese citizen.

That in turn begs the question, how come the authorities allowed the video to stay on line, or even be screened in the first place? Various theories are circulating, from the suggestion that the censors were asleep at the wheel, to the theory that there is government money behind the production of the video. Pollution is a topic that can’t be swept under the carpet, so perhaps the view is to assist with naming and shaming those who pollute.

The producer Ms Chai has promised to provide English subtitles, so to understand the video at present you need some Chinese, though some of the images speak for themselves.