China's Communist Party has banned from the web a documentary about pollution in China that had gone viral with hundreds of millions of views during the week after its release.

"BEIJING — 'Under the Dome,' a searing documentary about China’s catastrophic air pollution, had hundreds of millions of views on Chinese websites within days of its release one week ago.

The country’s new environment minister compared it to 'Silent Spring,' the landmark 1962 book that energized the environmental movement in the United States. Domestic and foreign journalists clamored to interview the filmmaker, a famous former television reporter, though she remained silent.

Then on Friday afternoon, the momentum over the video came to an abrupt halt, as major Chinese video websites deleted it under orders from the Communist Party’s central propaganda department."

Edward Wong reports for the New York Times March 6, 2015. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Under the Dome" (You Tube) [3]

"China Cannot Relent on Effort To Tackle Pollution: Minister" (Reuters) [4]

"The Anti-Pollution Documentary That's Taken China By Storm" (NPR) [5]