The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced that, from 2024 onward, movies must meet newly imposed diversity criteria to be considered for Best Picture, the final and most prestigious Oscar of the world-famous award ceremony. To be precise, at least 30% of cast members, production and distribution teams must be part of underrepresented groups based on race, gender, sexuality and disability status to evade ineligibility.

The announcement coincided with the premiere of Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan, which stars Chinese-American actress Yifei Liu. Many celebrated the casting of Liu, mindful of the successful anti-whitewashing petition and #OscarsSoWhite activism that preceded it. Mulan does, however, cover another chapter of racial supremacy, namely China’s oppression of its northern, Mongolic peoples, to which many historians believe Hua Mulan belonged. Liu, conversely, belongs to the hegemonic Han people; the financial advantages of appeasing the Chinese government impede the ethnic representation the very same industry is trying to foster at home. Unsurprisingly, there seems to be no easy fix in this complicated world of race politics.