Chai Jing’s viral pollution film Under the Dome is getting wiped from Chinese cyberspace, but the national conversation about China’s smoggy skies lives on, and China’s tech companies are getting in on the action. Above, exhibit A: that’s what happens when you search for “smog” on Baidu.com right now.
The smoggy-looking overlay popup includes a number of things users can do to help deal with and reduce pollution. On the left side are links to China’s pollution-reporting hotline, and a guide to local public transit routes you can use as an alternative to driving. In the center are a pledge button saying “I promise to do my best to reduce air pollution” (so far it has registered 1.2 million clicks) and a link to local AQI data for the user’s city. On the right side are links to a search for electric firecrackers (which gives you this cool animated panda popup) and a search for more information on the health hazards associated with coal burning.
Weibo posts suggest that until recently, the popup also featured a link to watch Under the Dome, but that link has since been removed.
Other Chinese search engines haven’t gone to quite the same lengths, but have still made efforts to spread knowledge about pollution. Searching for “smog” on Sogou will show users a little sidebar with some basic information (like the pollution reporting hotline and an article on what PM2.5 is) and a comment section where users are invited to share their thoughts after watching Under the Dome. Qihoo’s search engine also features a little sidebar section with links to articles like “What is the difference between fog and smog?”
China’s censors may be working to scrub every trace of Under the Dome from the web at the moment, but it’s clear that the film has already gotten everyone thinking about (and talking about) China’s pollution problem.
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