In China a documentary made with the support of some government officials has been pulled down by the government after going viral. The film hi-lights not only China’s problems with pollution but divisions within the government over how to handle the problem.

Chai Jing’s documentary “Under the Dome” is an expose that calls attention to the county’s dangerous levels of air pollution. China’s environment minister compared the film to “Silent Spring”, the book that launched the environmental movement in the United States.

After one week online the film generated more than 100 million viewers and on on Friday it was removed from Chinese websites by government officials.

“Under the Dome” was made by Chai Jing, a former investigative reporter with China Central Television. The film was made with help from other employees of the state news network as well as the cooperation of environmental officials within the Chinese communist party and government.

The video is in a format similar to a TED talk. In it, Ms. Chai, dressed in a white blouse and jeans, presents scientific information to an audience from a stage. She talks candidly about the threats posed by air pollution and her concerns for her infant daughter.

Chai also presents the politics of environmental regulation in China and talks about how little power enforcement officials have over industry.

According to Yuan Ling, a friend of Chai’s who helped with the video said that originally, it had included discussion of changes required to the Chinese development model.

“If the film had been this way, it would have been long, heavy and depressing,” Yuan told the New York Times.

The video rapidly sparked conversations across the country. It was originally promoted by the official party newspaper, the People’s Daily. Chen Jining, the newly minted environmental protection minister, praised the video saying that it should encourage efforts to improve air quality.

“Under the Dome”, however, was not without its critics. Officials at state owned enterprises and private firms as well as others in the government came out strongly against the film.

“Maybe she doesn’t have enough brains and not enough knowledge or thoughts. Anyway, she has no insights,” wrote Wan Zhanxiang, a senior oil company official, in an essay for Cubeoil.com.

All of this unfolded as Chinese officials prepared for the opening week of this year’s meeting of the National People’s Congress. The annual event, heavily covered in Chinese and international media, brings together government and party officials to discuss the state of the national and policy matters.

Early in the week, just a few days after the videos release, propaganda officials told Chinese news organizations to downplay “Under the Dome”. Media sites were asked not to report on the video and to remove it from their home pages. At that time sites were still allowed to host the video but not in prominent positions.

On Friday, just a day after the launch of the National People’s Congress orders came from the Communist Party’s central propaganda department to delete the video from Chinese websites. Major Chinese companies like Youku and Tencent now feature only dead links where the video used to be. The People’s Daily interview with Chai, originally intended to promote the video, was also gone.

“Those in China who wanted to view the film on Friday afternoon had to search for it in obscure corners of the Chinese Internet or go to sites like YouTube, which is blocked here but is accessible with work-around software,” said Edward Wong of the New York Times.

“Under the Dome” is still available, with English subtitles, on YouTube.