While the unorthodox conclusion to Wang’s investigative mystery both points to a fundamental difference between Western and Chinese thinking and suggests the crucial importance of what is absent (i.e. China itself, as the shots of water at the film’s end imply), the prime point of interest of Chan is Missing is not the conclusion to the search but the multifarious clues unearthed during the search itself.

multifarious (adj) : having many aspects [syn: many-sided, multifaceted] – source: Stranger than Paradise, p. 113