Emperors and concubines have been replaced by the grungy malcontents of Zhang Yuan's Beijing Bastards (1993), the Sixth Generation's first major film; its anomic punksters spit out .
But he had a hopeful note: anomic aphasia is much less common now that middle-ear infections are so readily controlled by sulfas and antibiotics.
He span cautionary tales of anomic youth and loveless adults, snazzing up these intimate tragedies with plot pyrotechnics filched from the Hollywood melodramas he adored.