[4] The story is loosely based on the leader of a gang from Jia Zhangke's childhood, whom he had admired as a role model.

[8] In 2001, Qiao and her boyfriend Bin, a mob boss, have a lot of power in Datong, an old mining city that has become poor since the coal prices dropped.

She uses this opportunity to steal his bike, and when she gets to the power plant she reports to a police officer that the driver tried to rape her and that he should call her boyfriend Bin.

In a hotel room, Bin says he's a changed man, no longer a "jianghu" gangster, and has no place in his life for Qiao anymore.

She gets off the train, sees a bright object fly swiftly overhead, and makes her way back to Datong.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Ash Is Purest White finds writer-director Zhangke Jia revisiting familiar themes while continuing to observe modern Chinese society with an urgent, empathetic eye.

"[9] On Metacritic, the film has an average weighted score of 85 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

[10] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described the film style as futurism and social realism, and reviewed the movie "feels like a gripping parable for the vanity of human wishes, and another impassioned portrait of national malaise.