As foreigners, we are constantly engaged with the question of race in China: what does it mean to be a foreigner living in Shanghai? At the same time, China's high paced economic and cultural opening has raised similar questions for the populace as it struggles to forge its new, global identity amid an influx of foreign influence. In the background of such discussions lies the specter of race, with all of its implications for a society struggling to deal with immigration and domestic racial tensions: how will China learn to acknowledge and incorporate notions of diversity as it presses on through the 21st century? The New York Times' Room for Debate blog has a number of different perspectives from notable academics on the subject of race in China, and is worth a read if you've ever pondered your own role as an expat. more ›

On the heels of nine executions last month, five more have been sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi for crimes committed during the July riots. They were found guilty of killing a police officer and kicking bystanders to death. Two others were sentenced to life in prison; the names of all accused indicate that they are ethnically Uyghur. Rebiya Kadeer, leader of the exiled World Uyghur Congress (and all around Uyghur-rights activist) further iterated her earlier criticisms of the Xinjiang trials in an e-mail statement, claiming that the government has "brazenly ignored all standards of due process." more ›

Nine people were executed yesterday for their involvement in the Xinjiang riots earlier this summer. Among the nine, two were ethnically Han, and the other seven were of Uighur descent. The exiled World Uighur Congress denounced the executions as unfair and unjust, claiming that the government had denied the prisoners a final visit from their families. In addition, twenty more people were indicted in relation to eighteen deaths during the riots. more ›