A frequent target of U.S. criticism over human rights issues, how was Chinese state media handling the Michael Brown shooting death and the Ferguson, Mo. police situation through Sunday?

They weren't.

Chinese media was conspicuously silent about the Aug. 9 Brown shooting and subsequent police crackdown on protests despite wall-to-wall coverage by other international news sources.

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Media observers could hear crickets chirping for all the Chinese commentary on the fast-breaking series of events surrounding the police shooting of an unarmed black youth on the streets of Ferguson.

Officials and media in the U.S. often are quick to jump on China for its handling of protests in places like Tibet, Xinjiang province, and, of course, Tiananmen Square in 1989. Many of those following the news believed the heavy-handed handling of protests around Ferguson provided perfect fodder to strike back at the United States.

Quiet for nine days, that all changed on Sunday. While Chinese media mainly ran short foreign news service items discussing the bare outline of the situation, influential, state-owned Xinhua News Agency released an opinion column in Chinese and English calling attention to what it called a racial divide and human rights flaw in the U.S. as revealed through the Ferguson riots.

Xinhua's commentary by writer Li Li led with Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech. Li said racial discrimination continued to exist in the U.S. 50 years after that speech, persisting in every aspect of American life.

Ferguson showed the U.S. had a lot of room for improvement in human rights despite it's self-appointed role as international human rights judge, according to Li.

In a final shout-out, Li said each country had different conditions, so "Obviously, what the United States needs to do is to concentrate on solving its own problems rather than point fingers at others."

Ouch. Point made, some said.

Chinese official media doesn't shy away from criticizing problems in the U.S., according to media analysts. However, the Ferguson situation with police handling protests seemed a bit similar to scenes last spring when protests were put down over a chemical plant at Maoming, southern China. Speculation was the two cases were similar enough to cause official media to pause rather than comment.

That ended Sunday as Xinhua, followed by Chinese social media, started to buzz about Michael Brown's shooting death and the Ferguson protests and police incidents.

Tagsferguson protests, michael brown shooting, US racism, Chinese media