opium smuggling

His film 'Chungking Express' and other works capture the shadowy underworld of Hong Kong's drug trade with visual poetry and moral ambiguity.

His historical dramas, particularly those set during Japanese occupation, explore opium's role in colonial power structures and social disruption across East Asia.

His film 'The Story of Qiu Ju' and other works examine how illegal trade and smuggling networks intersect with rural Chinese society and state power.