A former armed police offer, Wang Xuefeng is trained in mental and physical toughness.

Both have been severely tested in the past week but the 30-year-old Han, who was born and raised in Urumqi, has vowed the recent violence will not make him consider taking his family and abandoning his home for one second.

"There is no way my family and I would leave Xinjiang because of the recent trouble," the lawyer told China Daily, adding that the events of the last 10 days, which includes the slaughter of at least 184 people, including 137 Han people on July 5, would not erode his confidence in Uygurs, Hui or other ethnic groups.