As a foreigner living in China I'm constantly reminded of how far China has come, but today I was remind of how far my new home still has to come. Today hyper-nationalism, emotions, curiosity and in some cases racism, won the day across China. In Shenzhen, as in many cities across the country, hundreds or possibly thousands marched in protest of Japan's control of a chain of uninhabited islands called Shenkaku in Japanese or as the Chinese call them Diaoyu.

In Shenzhen the protests appeared to be mostly peaceful. People marched down the streets cheering "Zhong Guo Jia You", "Come on China" as well as other chants like "Small Japan Get Out" "Diaoyu belongs to China" and "China Owns Japan" in Chinese. While in other cities, stores selling Japanese products, Japanese cars and other Japanese related objects were damaged or in some cases destroyed.

Many protesters claimed to be marching in the hopes of forcing the government to take a more aggressive stance against "the Japanese occupation of Diaoyu" another told me they thought many people's feeling by once again occupying Chinese territory as they did in Nanjing. Still others seemed to be marching because they got swept up in the emotion of the events.

Being in the middle of the march, I too was a target. Some hurled words like "America is Evil" and "Go back to America!", while other people saw me and my camera as a chance to share their feelings and their signs.