HONG KONG — Zhang Yuan, a leading figure of China’s sixth-generation filmmakers, was arrested early Wednesday morning in Beijing, on the suspicion of possessing and ingesting drugs banned by the city’s anti-narcotics office, according to Chinese news agencies Sina.com and Chinanews.com.
In a clip from Beijing Television posted on Sina.com’s video site, Zhang and friends were ingesting the substances when police entered the director’s premises, followed by a news crew. A search turned up a range of popular street drugs, including Ketamine, a rampant youth street drug in Hong Kong and China, according to the reports.
Zhang denied that the confiscated substances were in fact drugs and refused to answer any questions from the police. His only comment to them was, “I don’t know who you are or why you are in my house.”
The five people arrested, including Zhang and sculptor and installation artist Mi Qiu, had positive results for the drug tests administered, the reports said.
Zhang graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1989. His most recent film, “Little Red Flowers,” screened at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival where it won the C.I.C.A.E. award.
