Examining the multiple modernities in East Asian society as represented in three contemporary Chinese movies, Mahjong/Couples, Unknown Pleasures and Hollywood Hong Kong, this paper discusses the complexity of East-Asian urban culture amid waves of globalization. The anti-bildungsroman narratives in these three films imply how the state of ”dispossession” has been all the rage in East-Asian communities over the past decade, during a time of severe changes brought about by globalization. These films not only reflect problems faced by the urban youngsters, but also, in symbolic ways, are themselves a perfect medium to observe the features of globalization. The first part of the paper discusses how the three films represent urban redevelopment and consumerism in contemporary East Asian context. The second part focuses on the protagonists' anti-bildungsroman experience in the globalized environment. The last part explores the significance of the anti-bildungsroman narratives in relation to multiple modernities in the era of omnipolitanization.