"Under the Dome," Chai Jing's breakout documentary on China's catastrophic air pollution problem, finally hit insurmountable political opposition last Friday after seven days in which the video racked up over 200 million views. The eventual clampdown raised many questions about the extent of internal support for the documentary.In this episode of Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser interview Calvin Quek of Greenpeace, who works on pollution problems and has significant experience lobbying the private sector to curtail investments into the worst-offending, environmentally unsustainable technologies. We are also joined by Peggy Liu, chairperson of JUCCCE (Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy), a non-profit organization focused on Chinese government training and other green initiatives.Enjoy Sinica? Get notified when new episodes are published by subscribing to our dedicated RSS feed. You are also welcome to download this show as a standalone mp3 file. Thanks for listening and please send us comments and feedback by email at sinica@popupchinese.com.
Sinica
said on March 9, 2015
RecommendationsDavid:China's carbon emissions could save the world—or doom it, by Hudson Lockett for China Economic Reviewhttp://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/china-carbon-allCalvin: The Most Brilliant Politician You Never Knew, by Beverly Murray at Back That Sass Uphttp://www.backthatsassup.com/2015/03/the-most-brilliant-politician-you-never-knew/Peggy:1. The China Coal Consumption Cap Plan and Policy Research Projecthttp://www.nrdc.cn/coalcap/index.php/English/index2. A New Way to Eathttp://juccce.org/eatKaiser:1. Travels with My Censor, by Peter Hessler for The New Yorkerhttp://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/09/travels-with-my-censor2. The 'Deaf' Composer Who Fooled a Nation, by Christopher Beam for The New Republichttp://www.newrepublic.com/article/121185/japans-deaf-composer-wasnt-what-he-seemed
nickwilliamward
said on March 10, 2015
"Baidu’s communications officer, Kaiser Kuo, said by email that the design “was by no means intended to objectify women or to encourage materialism or consumerism."i like your podcast but jesus christ. you huge shabby tool. they don't even pay you enough to buy a house in beijing and you still prostitute yourself like this for them.
nickwilliamward
said on March 10, 2015
like, maybe its true, strictly speaking, that that baidu doodle wasn't intended to objectify women. but if its true thats even sadder because it means that baidu's leaders are awful clowns who don't know anything about anything.
boralben
said on March 10, 2015
Great discussion this week with many interesting points made by all. Out of curiosity, what is Jeremy doing in the US now? Jeremy, welcome to America!
nickwilliamward
said on March 10, 2015
do your next show on international women's day and how the government rounded up all the feminists and put them in administrative detention leading up to it and i will forgive your black treachery in this matter, very serious and important china commentator kaiser kuo
trevelyan
said on March 11, 2015
@boralben,Of all places, Jeremy and family are actually in Nashville. Wu Fei is involved in the local music scene there with Abigale Washburn and others, so he and her are both in and out of China.They are already missed, except that the weather has been AMAZINGLY good since they've both left, and the correlation-is-not-causation thing is not entirely convincing to those of us left here. Jeremy will be back in a bit though, so it isn't as if he has left us for good... :)--davie
mmurphy
said on March 15, 2015
@Jeremy,If you need a chance to escape the "smog" in Nashville, Chattanooga (aka Gig-City) just down the road has become a mecca for hiking, climbing, MTB and other outdoor adventures, in addition to IT jobs. Would be happy to show you around!MM
richwarm
said on March 15, 2015
"U.S. students losing interest in China as dream jobs prove elusive[...] For U.S. students, China's notorious pollution is a concern.[...] After a burst of enthusiasm a decade ago, interest in learning Chinese appears to be waning among U.S. students.[...]"<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-china-usa-students-idUSKBN0M82MU20150312">http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-china-usa-students-idUSKBN0M82MU20150312</a>
dreadnaugt
said on April 1, 2015
I had not watched the video as of hearing the podcast, but began watching it after my listening today. It is on youtube as well. If you haven't had a chance to watch it, it has well done English subtitles so no worries if your Chinese is not good enough to handle some of the technical jargon.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6X2uwlQGQM
