So-called anthology films, made up of multiple shorts based around the same theme, are a staple of the anime industry and are generally created to a) give young directors a chance, b) show off what studios are capable of, or c) keep a director or studio in the public consciousness between full-length features.
There seems to be a little of all three going on in "Flavors of Youth," the new anthology that teams Japanese studio CoMix Wave Films with Chinese studio Haoliners. CoMix Wave Films is best known as the home of director Makoto Shinkai (creator of the 2016 smash hit "Your Name.") while Haoliners is represented by director Li Haoling who brought the "Flavors of Youth" project to CoMix Wave and acted as its chief director.
The film is made up of three shorts, each of which takes place in China, and tells the stories of young people trying to reconcile their childhoods with a country changing before their eyes.