A disgruntled former employee of a Guangdong toy factory spread a rumor online, saying two Han women had been raped by a group of Uygur workers at the factory.

In a violent scuffle that followed, two, who happened to be Uygur, were killed, and dozens, including both Han and Uygur, were wounded.

The tragic outcomes of the misunderstanding might have served the instigator well. But not those wanting something bigger. The regular criminal case was painted a thick racial color, and used to fuse the Sunday rioting in Urumqi.

For many of us who grew up being told we are a big, harmonious family of 56 nationalities, the bloody episode in Urumqi was not just a fly in the ointment. It is a serious warning - that there are people who hate such harmony, and that such harmony should not be taken for granted.

Yet perhaps because we were too confident about such harmony, we suddenly find ourselves surprisingly unprepared for the opposite.

We all want to see justice be done, and believe justice can only be done in the framework of law. Our Criminal Law has no difficulty dealing with such criminal acts as murder, arson, and robbery. All those who carried out physical harm Sunday night on the streets of Urumqi will have their criminal liabilities defined accordingly.

Yet the absence of hate crimes in the existing criminal code is a lamentable loophole that should be plugged in no time. From the March 14, 2008 unrest in Lhasa, to the July 5 Urumqi riot, there were separatists inciting hatred on racial or ethnic grounds. And both ended up causing instant harms on relations between different Chinese nationalilities.

Given their devastating consequences, as were evident in such tragedies, behaviors that incite hatred between different communities, whether based on race, religion, or any other alleged local identity, to the purpose of jeopardizing the national integrity and harmony, should not remain beyond the reach of our Criminal Law.

This country has many fine traditions when it comes to relations among people of different cultural, religious and nationality backgrounds. And our people share a wonderful tradition of friendly co-existence. But the law exists not just to affirm the status quo. We need it also to regulate irregularities.

People love to say we should cherish national unity as we do our pupils. In a multinational country like ours, hatred-inciting separatist attempts are a proven threat to state security as well as the welfare of people of all nationality backgrounds. Such attempts must be made indictable under our Criminal Law. The Urumqi tragedy makes it more imperative than ever.

(China Daily 07/09/2009 page8)