Chinese celebrity’s air pollution video stirs online dust-up

A former TV celebrity has unleashed a storm of criticism and a wave of support with a self-funded, An Inconvenient Truth-style documentary on the nation's air pollution scourge.

The video by former China Central Television presenter Chai Jing went viral in China - logging 155 million views in a single day - after it was released on various online sites, with critics questioning the scientific basis of her claims and supporters applauding her for shining a light on the issue.

Among those cheering was Chen Jining, the new environmental protection minister, who sent Chai a text message to thank her for focusing attention on environmental problems, China News Service reported.

Chai spent about 1 million yuan (HK$1.26 million) making Under the Dome and she took up the issue when her daughter was diagnosed with a tumour, the People's Daily website quoted her as saying.

In the production, which echoes the slide-show format of former US vice-president Al Gore's 2006 documentary, Chai called on the public to help take remedial action.

Citing former health minister Chen Zhu, the video claimed that an estimated half a million people died prematurely in China every year because of air pollution. In Beijing, the use of coal meant the concentration of cancer-causing PM2.5 particles in winter was 25 times higher than that in summer, it said.

The video also accused domestic oil giants of failing to improve petroleum quality, a step that could go a long way to cutting pollution from car exhausts.