As part of our inaugural China Week, we collaborated with UK-China Film Collab to screen 'Smog Town'.

About the film

“Smog Town” (2019) is a documentary about Langfang, a town 40 kilometres away from Beijing and one of the most air-polluted cities in China. The film captures the local environmental protection bureau, Deputy Chief Li and his assistant Hu who are working hard to change the situation. The screening of this film, which took place at the Curzon cinema in Bloomsbury, was followed with a talk by featured guest speakers.

Film Credits:

Running Time: 89 minutes

Director: Meng Han

Production: Vincent Du

Executive Producer: Richard Liang

Co-production: SonaFilms, MF Production

Cinematography: Vincent Du, Meng Han

This screening was introduced by Hannah Bretherton (Impact and Engagement Manager, Lau China Institute) and Dr Hiu Man Chan (Founder & Director of UK-China Film Collab).

About the speaker

Ma Jun ( 马军) is a Chinese environmentalist, environmental consultant and journalist. He is the current Director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE). Ma started his career in journalism as an investigative journalist at the South China Morning Post (SCMP) in the early 90s and later became the Chief Representative of SCMP in Beijing. Ma is the author of 'China's Water Crisis' which became known as China's first major book on the country's environmental crisis. He currently directs the IPE which developed the China Water Pollution Map, the first public database of water pollution information in China. He also serves as an Environmental Consultant for the Sinosphere Corporation. Ma was named as one of the 100 most influential persons in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. In 2012, he received the Goldman Environmental Prize and in 2015 he became the first Chinese social entrepreneur to win the Skoll Award.