Chinese director Peng Fei. [Photo/Xinhua]

Three people struggling for their dreams in the melting pot of Beijing showed the complex transition of China in Underground Fragrance, a film by Chinese director Peng Fei presented here at the ongoing Venice International Film Festival this week.

Yong Le, a young migrant worker from the south who salvages furniture to re-sell, lives in a room in Beijing's Underground City, a labyrinthian former bomb shelter that serves as cheap housing for people looking for opportunity in the big city.

Xiao Yun, a migrant too, lives in the same place and is a pole dancer at nights. Her meeting with Yong Le after a bad accident which leaves him temporarily blind and their burgeoning relationship encourage her to hunt for a more respectable job.

Meanwhile at ground level, Old Jin is struggling to get a decent compensation deal from the authorities who want to demolish his house. But his health is declining and his savings are evaporating.

In the film, the underground and surface become metaphors of a society undergoing complete transformation, Peng explained. In fact his film, the director underlined, was nothing but a reflection of reality, with the surface and the underground, the demolition and the flow of drifters representing the people and the things of Beijing like a cross-structure.

Peng's camera paid particular attention to young generations, who in Underground Fragrance appear determined to move upwards socially, no matter the cost.

"Many young people in China do not keep their feet on the ground. They can easily change direction as they see an easy path for success, instead of focusing on something to forge their future," Peng told Xinhua in an interview at the Lido of Venice.

"Young generations need to be encouraged to pursue their dreams with concrete dedication and commitment," Peng went on saying. "I got the inspiration through the life of those that are around me, the end of the film emerges from those impressions and feelings," he pointed out.