- Title: CHINA: Pollution film puts Beijing's haze in focus
- Date: 22nd January 2013
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) DOCUMENTARY MAKER LI FEIFAN SEATED AT COMPUTER LI'S FACE LI'S FACE REFLECTED IN SCREEN WHILE EDITING LI'S HAND MOVING MOUSE LI'S FACE REFLECTED IN SCREEN SHOWING IMAGES OF POLLUTION
- Embargoed: 6th February 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA70E52FRGIJ929CQJ23WJGFCLV
- Story Text: A young Chinese filmmaker spends weeks documenting Beijing's chronic smog to draw attention to the capital city's deteriorating air quality.
When Beijing woke up choking to its worst-ever recorded pollution in
mid-January, filmmaker Li Feifan was already more than familiar with the capital's blackened skies.
For over two months, he had been recording the skies meticulously with his video camera for a documentary which last week had its timely release.
Twenty-four-year-old Li started filming Beijing's smog at the start of November 2102, using his weekends and time before and after work.
He completed filming two days before January 12, when pollution shot far above hazardous levels, reaching 755 on an index that measures particulate matter in the air with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers.
A level of 300 is considered dangerous while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20.
China's Phoenix TV station, where Li works, jumped on the documentary, which ended up being broadcast on several stations across the country and watched widely on the internet.
The film's title "Mo Wei" is made up of two Chinese characters meaning 'Apocalypse" and "future", which Li feels could describe the fate of the capital if things don't change.
"Although people can feel the air quality and the environment in which they live are deteriorating, when you push something like this in front of their faces they are still shocked, and think they should start doing something now instead of just talking about it or postponing action until some other day. The idea of the 'apocalypse' is always present in people's minds, it pushes us and reminds us that we must change, and face the fact that this is an environmental crisis," he said.
The 40-minute film features multiple images of the same city skyline submerged in different levels of smog at different times.
It also emphasises the strain put on the city as its 20-million-strong population fills streets with new cars, leaves landfills piled with rubbish and squeezes scarce water and land resources.
Li, who says he rides his bike to work whatever the weather, is sure the growth is unsustainable.
"Every city has its limit. I hope that through my documentation and video, and the advice that I am making in the film, I can help every person in the city realise that if this is Beijing's future development path then we should take precautions and prepare a plan as early as possible. This city cannot carry on expanding limitlessly," he said.
Beijing started publicly releasing measurements of PM2.5, or "particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter" in the air last year, a sign of increasing responsiveness to people's concerns about quality of life.
On January 1st this year, 74 cities across the country joined in.
The recent pollution crisis drew a public outcry and unusually vocal criticism from China's strictly-controlled state media.
Hugely-popular microblogging sites have buzzed with debate over how leaders can steer the world's most populous country away from a "development-at-all costs" model of economic growth.
And in this new media environment, people like Li Feifan are finding their voice is being heard.
Beijing's government announced last weekend it would unveil new rules to formalize measures including shutting down factories, cutting back on burning coal and taking certain vehicles off the roads on days when pollution hits unacceptable levels. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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