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Jia Zhang Ke made his directorial debut with this low-budget 16mm film shot in his hometown with non-professional actors. Small time Fenyang thief and pickpocket Xiao Wu is insulted when a now-respectable former thief doesn't send him a wedding invitation. At a karaoke bar, Xiao Wu meets Mei Mei, instructed to join him because she won't sing or dance. The two are on the brink of a relationship, but she soon departs. He visits his parents in a neighboring village, encountering rejection yet again. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival.