List of countries by incarceration rate
China. The rate of 118 is for sentenced prisoners in 2015 in Ministry of Justice prisons only. World Prison Brief: "1,649,804 [prisoners] at mid-2015 (via Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators - sentenced prisoners in Ministry of Justice prisons only, excluding pre-trial detainees and those held in administrative detention). The Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate reported in 2009 that, in addition to the sentenced prisoners, more than 650,000 were held in detention centres In China. If this was still correct in mid-2015 the total prison population in China was at least 2,300,000. ... 118 [rate] based on an estimated national population of 1.4 billion at mid-2015 (from United Nations figures) – sentenced prisoners in Ministry of Justice prisons only. (A total prison population of 2,300,000 would raise the prison population rate to 164 per 100,000.)" See also: Re-education through labor and Laogai.
Internalized racism
The case of China is of interest because some have argued that racism, and race itself doesn't exist in China. However, Dutch Historian Frank Dikötter argues that everything from the practice of using cranium weight between races as a measure of white and Chinese superiority to the physical attacks and demonstrations of Chinese university students against African students make it clear that race is indeed recognized in China. Indeed the context of race and racism in China is heavily affected by the fact that the large majority of the county is identified as Han Chinese (90.56% of the reported population in 2005). 55 minority ethnic groups are recognized by the government, giving the government the power to dictate different groups as legitimate (and therefore eligible for less taxes, more subsidies and less restrictions) or illegitimate. This creates an environments in which groups attempt to gain their validation and sense of worth from the dominant Han Chinese and the state, internalizing a subordinate position. Because this system involves policing of social groups, it also involves discriminatory practices which are then internalized by both recognized and unrecognized minority groups.