East Villagers Non-Profit Community News » China

America Education Cons

Sharon Li — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:10:46 +0000

Although America’s education allows any children opportunities that other kid’s from other countries are not able to have, it also is actually very behind other countries.
I was shocked when I read an article how “15-year-olds in the U.S. placed 25th out of 30 countries in math performance and 21st in science performance.” America gives kid’s a lose grip on what they want to be, this country has many opportunities with children who want to be more creative when they grow up as well. I think this is great, and it’s a large contributor to the fact that many people move here from oversees to give their kid’s a wider variety of choices. Unfortunately, we are also far behind other countries academic skills.
I suppose it all depends on what and who is being compared to places. It’s proven that by the end of 8th grade, students are two years behind in math studied by other students in other countries. And over 50% of students cannot read at their grade level and most likely, never will be able to catch up. Although, others believe that we are better-rounded than other countries that offer academics and basically nothing else, he still are beginning to drag behind as well.
Not only this, but because of the recent budget cuts, students find themselves with less opportunities to choose from as well. Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed that the graduation rates of students have declined, not too noticeable for others, but around .9 percent. Because not every job available has a good strong education required, many people drop out, believing that they can still get whatever career that they choose.
A documentation called “Two Million Minutes” is about two students from three countries, China, India, and America. One of the Indian students comments how American’s education “seems like a dream”. The movie has the top students describe what their life is like and is compared to the other students from other countries. It was astounding how hard and dedicated the kids from China and China seemed to be, and although I had originally thought the American students worked diligently (not that they don’t) it seemed as though all the other students did was study.
Nowadays, people describe that America’s education lacks the strength and drive of other students oversees, and are not globally “aware” of the standings of countries around the world.

http://www.studentsfirst.org/pages/the-stats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bFmWlyBcrs

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Little Red Scarf August Newsletter

steveko — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:50:34 +0000

Angel of the Month: Minjuan

Minjuan is a quiet yet brave girl. She shows no fear of needles, surgeries, or painful and unfamiliar exams. Instead, she worries only for her three young brothers and sister while she is away from home, hoping they will behave well while she is away.

Born to a family with too many mouths to feed and too few helping hands, 11 year-old Mingjuan learned early on to take care of herself and her younger siblings while her mother worked in the field alone.Her father could not labor in the fields due to a medical ailment that he left untreated for fear of the cost, and Mingjuan’s own heart disease, discovered during a school physical exam when she was seven, similarly had no hope of being treated. Across the past 4 years, the family continued life as usual, but grieved their inability to look after their oldest child.

The family atmosphere changed recently when they were told of Little Red Scarf. Mingjuan signed up for sponsorship and was admitted into our partner hospital early this month. Since then, her path toward health has been smooth. Mingjuan has always been like a little mom taking care of her family, but now we hope to take care of this brave little girl in her recovery from heart disease.

Background Information: Mingjuan, Female, 11yrs, VSD, first contacted by Little Red Scarf. For more on Mingjuan’s journey, see her project page.

Post-Surgery Update: May LRS Children
This month, our post-op follow-up phone calls reached out to families of children treated in May. On those calls, we were extremely relieved to hear that over 90% of the families are busy with back-to school preparations. Because of their health conditions, more than 90% our Little Red Scarf school-age children had stayed home for longer than a semester. Some had even suspended school for more than 10 years, cut off from any sort of education and classmate companionship. For these children, the hectic process of meeting teachers, buying new stationary, and catching up on reading and writing is underscored with beautiful hope for the future that could not have existed without LRS. Little red scarf, as an honorable accessory in China that all elementary school children would like to wear to school, is something we envision on every child as we sponsor them with your support.

Family Profile: Haoyang
Like a typical Gansu village girl, she wed at 19, and bore her first son a year later. When her son had an accident in which he was severely burnt and scarred under her care, her confidence as a mother was shattered. She could no longer show empathy or affection, even after the birth of her second child. As a result, her boys grew up emotionally distanced from their mother.

When Haoyang found to have congenital heart disease last Spring and was hospitalized later in the year, it was very difficult for both mother and the son; even last May, when three-year old Haoyang came to Beijing for treatment, it was still obvious he was not close to his mother.

Haoyang experienced post-surgical complications and struggled for survival in the ICU for more than 60 days. During this time, our team watched his mother’s heartache, regret and concern for her son. The silver lining to this heart-wrenching process was the softening of this poor mother’s heart toward her child. We shared her joyful tears when the news of Haoyang’s miracle awakening came last week. When Haoyang was transferred to the regular ward today, we saw the fear and distance in his mother’s heart turn to thanksgiving and love. We congratulate this family on not only their son’s new life, but also the rebirth of his relationship with his mother. For more on Haoyang, see his project page.

News and Updates
Medical Outreach- At the beginning of this month, the LRS team participated in medical outreach to Huining and Linxia County with our partner hospital, Lanzhou University First Hospital, . We screened more than 500 patients, with many families signing up for LRS support on the spot.
Professional Publicity – We participated in the Congenital Heart Disease Treatment Progress conference held in Gansu, and publicized our program to many medical practitioners from county and town hospitals. In making ourselves known to people from medical workers to farmers, we hope to extend our reach and impact.
Welcome!- We welcomed a new staff member, Guanyin, this month. Her passion and experience supporting poor students in a professional setting will greatly benefit our team. Says Guanyin about her upcoming role, “In one years’ time, I hope to be more mature in the way I interact with the families; understand their hearts and speak their comforting language in times of their greatest needs.” We are so thankful for her enthusiasm and can’t wait to see how she adds inspiration to our team.

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Fangdi, last month’s focus child says thanks. See her project page.

Xuanxuan tells us, “I’m going home! Thanks Little Red Scarf aunties and uncles!” See his project page.

Hear Wenxia’s family share, “By giving us a healthy family, you have let us feel that compassion still exists in society.” Or, see her project page.

Xiqiang shows us her gratitude. See her project page.

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Athletes in other Countries

Sharon Li — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:19:09 +0000

Just yesterday, on August 18, 2011, a story came out about how Chinese athletes were rebelling against the system. As I said in my earlier blog, in China the academics are particularly harsh and kids never seem to get a break. Although pretty much 97.5% of them are focused on math and science, the other 2% is on athletics. Then…the last .5% is writing or other creative learning type things. No matter which one it is, the training for each is vigorous and brutal, from the angle I view it, but because they grow accustomed to it and it helps them succeed then my viewpoint is different from theirs.
In China, children whose parents want them to be involved in sports are to start training when they are three or four years old. Doing exercises on which ever sport is chosen by their guardian. Many parents in China are very serious about whatever things their child gets involved with so they pick the toughest trainer out there. It’s normal to hit and insult their children In China, and although it can sound cruel, it’s just how they’re brought up, and even though American children would rebel, this only drives the kids in China to try harder. The coach/trainer is usually to remain the same throughout the kid’s professional career, switching or changing if a better one is in the area. The parent’s tell the coach to treat them like their own child, also telling them that it is fine to be harsh.
So back to the article…in Beijing the national junior basketball team decided to write a letter to the Chinese Basketball Association about how their coach abused them physically and verbally. They wrote that they would like to request a new coach and have the old one replaced; afterwards the coach was approached about his behavior after a scene began to be made of this, much more of a scandal and weeks later he was noted that his personality completely transformed and was much more compassionate and less pushing. There is much controversy in China on situations like this, saying the younger generations are trying too hard to take control, while others say they are being pushed too hard. My opinion on a case like this is much more confusing because although I do understand both sides it’s hard to understand the situation, seeing that I’m in neither of their positions.
This seems to have started more or less of a riot among younger athletes who want to change how they get treated as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/sports/chinese-athletes-begin-to-challenge-governments-tight-grip.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=global-home

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Gao Kao

Sharon Li — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:30:54 +0000

Children who grow up in China have life pretty tough. They have to grow up around this lifestyle and hopefully get accustomed to it.
Last year, I visited my step-cousin, who was getting ready to apply for college, we were at my grandmother’s house in Yangzhou and I only met her for a couple of minutes…she didn’t even stay for dinner, but whisked away to go study. I was surprised, seeing that it was the middle of summer and school hadn’t even started so there was nothing to study for. Not only that, but when we invited her to go to Beijing with us, she declined to study some more. At first, I believed that she just didn’t want to go with us, which I understood, but then her father said how she had a huge test coming up in June. Now I was even more confused, seeing that it was July, and there was another year until June came by.
My cousins came over this summer from China for a month or so. They’re twins and smarter than me in almost every category except English and U.S. History, obviously. They’re only in middle school, yet their school days are two to three hours longer than mine, and they have a tower of homework always following them.
Only until I really thought about it, did I realize how harsh the academics in China are. The twins have to take the “chu kao” which is a test that sees if they are fit to continue to junior high, and which school they can go to. Although this test is taken at a young age it is still important. Next is the “zhong kao” and as a junior in high school they take this exam to see if they can become a senior in high school, this is similar to chu kao, and although both are harsh, the zhong kao is worse. Lastly is “gao kao” which is the most important test that a child in China will ever take in their whole life. This test is solely the reason they can go to college. If they get in the top highest marks, they will go to college, if they do not, then they don’t. This test comes around once a year and kids are pushed farther than their limits, studying fourteen to fifteen hours a day. Of course, someone can take the test next year as well, but it’s mostly just a one-time shot…because colleges usually do not accept people who had to take it twice. Parent’s work their child so hard that it’s normal to pass out or have to go to the hospital. Many people compare this test to the SAT or ACT but don’t realize how much worse and vigorous the gao kao is.
So the day of the test, kids don’t even sleep, usually, eat as they study, and continue to study until the last second. Even if someone is just one minute late, they are not allowed to take the test, ruining their chances to go to college forever. One women got down on her knees and begged the test master to let her child take the test after her child was four minutes late, but was still not allowed to.
I can’t put in words to how harsh their conditions are…

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/07/25/2287820.htm

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Mismanaging aid funds.. that’s bad

Quyen Nguyen — Sun, 22 May 2011 19:25:31 +0000

This is an excerpt from an NYT article:

BEIJING — The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has frozen payments on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of disease-fighting grants to China, one of the charity’s biggest recipients, in a dispute over China’s management of the grants and its hostility toward involving grass-roots organizations in public health issues.The dispute may add to a growing debate among global health experts whether China, which spent an estimated $46 billion staging the 2008 Olympic games and last year’s Shanghai Expo and financed a $586 billion economic stimulus package, should be a recipient of such aid at all.

The fund, which has expanded to 150 countries since it was founded in 2002 as a pool for public and private donations to fight the world’s worst diseases, quietly decided to hold back payments from a major AIDS grant to China in November. It froze payments from other grants to China several weeks ago because of fresh concerns over lack of monitoring of funds.

Its decisions appear rooted in a collision between the fund’s conviction that grass-roots organizations must be intrinsically involved in the fight to control diseases like AIDS, and the Chinese government’s growing suspicion of any civil-society groups that are not directly under its control. They follow complaints by some AIDS activists that Chinese officials have sought to suppress their public-health activities, have shunted grant money to groups under government control and have failed to account for how some funds were spent.

It makes me cringe to know that governments are using international grants for shady purposed instead of helping people with AIDS. And this is not just in China. I’m from Vietnam and I know that the number one concern whenever someone or some organization donate money to a cause is whether the money will come to the right person or not. Bureaucracy in Asia is an epidemic. Officials are willing to blatantly misuse aids for poor and ill citizens without feeling the slightest bit of guilt. Or in the case of China, it is not just some individuals’ corrupted use of the money but the govt’s splurge on grand projects like the Shanghai Expo or the Olympics.

We need to stop, ponder and start some reforming. I don’t know how, when, but our generation needs to do something about this.

Quyen Nguyen

Team EVSS 5 – Int’l Health

May 2011

Chicago

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Post tags: aid, misuse

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Executions in China

Brynn Sy — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 05:19:36 +0000

China is known as one of the most powerful countries of the world and the most feared because of that power they possess. They happen to be known for their large population, a dominant military force in East Asia and for their strict communist state of government. This government holds a zero tolerance policy when it comes to smugglers and drug dealers being caught in the nation but is China being just with every execution they make?

This question has come to mind in the past but is even more apparent with China’s most recent executions on drug traffickers. Back in 2008, three Filipinos (two women and one man) were arrested for transporting packages containing at least 3.6 kilograms (8 lbs) of heroin. By Chinese law, trafficking at least 50 grams of any illegal drug could lead to a death sentence. Vice President Jejomar Binay sent an appeal asking the Chinese government to allow the Filipinos to live while investigators in Manila analyzed new evidence two years later that could prove two out of the three arrested as innocent. The families of two of the prisoners sent out open letters arguing that they were duped by others and as a result, Philippine authorities were able to identify and arrest some members of the drug syndicate that tricked the prisoners. Nonetheless, China made little delays on the executions and only allowed Elizabeth Batain, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Ramon Credo to see their families a few hours before they were put to death. Sally Ordinario-Villanueva’s sister, Maylene Ordinario told her family in the Philippines after the last visitation in China that “They have no mercy.” China’s foreign ministry said that drug trafficking is a serious offense and “justice has been served.” From there, prayer vigils, church masses and rallies of Filipino workers were held in response to the executions.

China has been known for executing past foreigners for drug offenses and smuggling such as Japanese man Mitsunobu Akano and British man Akmal Shaikh. Last April, Akano was found with 1.5 kilograms of “stimulant durgs” that he and an unknown accomplice planned on transporting to Japan. After a rejected appeal, Akano was trialed and sentenced to death among other Japanese drug smugglers. In 2007, Shaikh was arrested and convicted for drug smuggling. Family and the British government called for clemency, claiming that Shaikh was mentally ill with severe bipolar disorder, yet China ignored the calls and claimed that Shaikh didn’t have any previous records of a mental illness. Furthermore, China warned Britain that in order to not risk harming diplomatic ties between them, they needed to stop condemning Shaikh’s execution, completed in 2009 after.
Author Jonathan Fenby analyzed China’s reasoning for its extremities with drug trafficker executions due to its long history battling Opium Wars between Britain and other nations involved with the drug trade. During the 19th and 20th centuries, British merchants traded opium from India with several nations, including China, leading to the demands to end the trade and eventually war between China and Britain. At the time, China blamed opium for its bad state as a nation. That memory haunts China as they pin the blame for opium usage upon other countries and still continue with strict regulations of drug crimes today.

As a result of all of these executions, including ones that were or were not reported world-wide, Amnesty International has said that China is the world’s biggest executioner, believed to execute far more convicts than the rest of the world combined. The death penalty remains strong in China today to keep the order and limitations they established upon the masses. Is China right in doing so? Are they valid for “serving justice” to the thousands of people they execute every year? Is China being too uptight with their laws and jurisdictions? Nations around the world, including the Philippines, have abolished the death penalty altogether during the last decade. Should they have done so or should every country follow this action? These are some of the questions that come to mind with this topic and debate of the continuation of the death penalty now. What do you think?

Brynn Olivia Sy
Cleveland High School – 12th
Team 3: Youth Outreach

SOURCES:
Al Jazeera – China executes Filipinos for drug trafficking
BBC – China Executes three Filipinos for drugs smuggling
ABS-CBN News - China executes 3 Filipinos despite Manila’s pleas
BBC - China executes Japanese drug smuggler
BBC – British man said to be mentally ill executed in China
The Telegraph - Akmal Shaikh: China refers to controversial Opium Wars with Britain

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WikiLeaks, China, Shell, America and Africa

Onome Uwhuba — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:48:33 +0000

This might be coming a bit late after all the scandal surrounding WikiLeaks has blown away, but the truths it revealed were (as it seems to have been all around the world) not very shocking to many Nigerians and Africans.

Some of the information was on the strength of the ties that Shell has in the Nigerian government, and its access to confidential information from the government. I am from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria where Shell does a large part of its oil drilling (and environmental damage), and I do not see any leak in the fact that Shell controls many government officials.

Interestingly, however was a common thread of the fear of China’s role in Africa. A quote by Johnnie Carson, US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs states: “China is not in Africa for altruistic reasons. China is in Africa primarily for China”. I actually found this quite ironic, because I am pretty sure that while America gives Aid to Africa, America is in Africa for America’s sake. What made this even clearer was the fact that “Shell exchanged intelligence with the US about military activity in the oil-rich Niger Delta”. This does not exactly put the US government in a position of humanitarianism towards Africa, if they exchange intelligence with commercial companies present in Africa and known to be committing great environmental damage to the areas they are present.

Then there were the ‘great reveals’ of the presence of Bribes in many of the government handlings in Africa. But as a friend once said, the governmental dealings of Nigeria’s government is “transparent corruption”. As in: bribes are expected and everyone knows that a bribe has been taken. That was not really a surprise to me.

Another surprising argument made by Johnnie Carson was that “China’s presence is to secure votes in the United Nations from African Countries”. Once again, this brings up the question of: why exactly is America there as well? Is it not to promote its own interests and secure votes in the UN?

From reading this article, all I could really garner was the fact that Africans (and their governments, although that would be immensely harder) need to start fighting more for their interests in their specific countries. These leaks are just revealing facts that everyone knows, but that they are facts is an embarrassment that citizens should take to heart and try to amend in their upcoming elections and keep in mind as they choose which officials to elect (if, of course, they have that luxury).

-Onome U. Chicago IL, International Health Team, College Sophomore.

Reference:

http://www.africanews.com/site/Wikileaks_Aid_to_Africa_has_strings_attached/list_messages/36562

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HIV/AIDS in China Part 3

Joy Liu — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 04:37:06 +0000

In this final article of a series (please see the first two articles here and here, respectively), I will conclude my exploration of HIV/AIDS in China by introducing measures taken to prevent and treat HIV, as well as the role of the government and various other aid organizations in this process.

China has taken steps to prevent HIV transmission. Among them are education, promotion of condoms, and HIV testing. A mass educational campaign was proposed to educate people how to avoid infections and overcome stigma and negative associations with the disease. Despite guidelines issued by the central government, the impact of educational programs has been limited. There’s a lack of qualified teachers as well as teaching resources. Moreover, how much HIV/AIDS education is actually being implemented in many rural areas is debatable. Another measure taken has been the distribution and promotion of condom use. Although condom promotion and distribution was initially slow at being implemented due to the stigma attached to it, it has been widely distributed and used among high-risk groups such as drug-users and sex workers. One final measure that China has taken to target HIV prevention is HIV testing. These large-scale HIV testing programs were implemented in 2004. In the years following the implementation, there has been a significant rise in the number of people diagnosed with the disease. However, there have been criticisms that the government has been targeting specific groups and that these tests were often not voluntary.

In addition to providing prevention services, China has also implemented treatment programs for those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. The China CARES (China Comprehensive AIDS Response) was launched in 2003. The program provided antiretroviral drugs to thousands of patients. Even with these efforts, the Chinese government isn’t reaching many patients. The main causes of this include stigma, discrimination, and the lack of health care services for many individuals (especially migrant workers). Moreover, most HIV/AIDS patients in China still lack access to second-line drugs that may be effective against drug-resistant strains. This is crucial because up to 50% of patients treated with first-line drugs show drug resistance, meaning that the treatment isn’t effective for them. Even more alarming, this improper treatment can easily lead to increased drug resistance and further perpetrate China’s HIV/AIDS problem.

Most of the current efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS have been undertaken by the Chinese government. However, NGOs and other organizations have traditionally been discouraged from activism within China. Even though China has been lauded for recently awakening itself to the problem of HIV/AIDS and has taken notable steps to prevent and treat the disease, it still needs to focus efforts on gaps and shortcomings in its efforts. This includes fighting societal stigma and discrimination as well as providing further resources (such as second-line therapies) as well as educational resources. The problem is complex, but as with any public health issue, it’s necessary to face it with optimism.

Joy Liu

Durham, North Carolina

Team 2: Servant Scholars

Freshman – Duke University

Sources: HIV & AIDS in China, CHAIN Project

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HIV/AIDS in China Part 2

Joy Liu — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:59:51 +0000

This month, I will be exploring the topic of HIV/AIDS in China. In my last article, I covered the basic history of the disease in China as well as the current situation. In this article, I will cover the three main routes of transmission that have historic and current importance: drug injections, blood donations/transfusions, and sex.

The major source for most HIV/AIDS epidemics in the 1990s and 2000s is attributed to drug injections. The first case of HIV/AIDS among injecting drug users (IDUs) was detected in 1989 in Hunan province. After its detection, HIV/AIDS quickly spread to the IDU community in various other parts of the country where drug trafficking was present, believed to span all provinces by 2002. Since HIV/AIDS was first attributed to this socially stigmatized group, government efforts at slowing transmission were relatively slow. There was a non-tolerance policy towards drug use at the time, and efforts focused on presenting negative health consequences of drug use instead of offering IDUs safer supplies. However, in the 2000s, the government began changing their attitude and offering needle exchange programs as well as methadone maintenance treatment programs. Both measures have been very effective in China, and the programs have been expanded to many other regions, a measure that has been heralded by the international agencies.

Another major route of transmission for HIV in China, especially in the 1990s, has been through unsafe blood donations and transfusions. China lacked a steady, safe blood donation and transfusion system, especially after it banned imported blood products in the 1980s. As a consequence, many smaller blood donation and transfusion centers sprang up, many illegally with little or no regulation from national authorities. Many centers removed plasma from the blood and injected the red blood cells back into the donor. This unsafe method, along with the reusing of needles throughout the process, may have infected hundreds of thousands of donors and people receiving blood transfusions. In the 2000s, the Chinese government has placed tighter restrictions on blood donation and transfusion centers. It maintains that all blood transfusions are now screened for HIV.

Sex is currently the major source of new transmissions. Homosexuals are a very high-risk group in China. In 2009, it was reported that 32.5% of new HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed were a result of homosexual activity. Compounding the problem is the heavy stigmatization of homosexuals. Many are young men who are married are hide their sexual orientation. This also places their wives at high risk for HIV/AIDS. Many are also unwilling to come forth and seek treatment due to public perception and stigmatization. Government efforts to reach the gay community have been hindered by fear, discrimination and stigma. Currently, heterosexual sex is the main source of new HIV transmission. Migrant workers and female sex workers are especially high-risk groups, mainly due to a lack of access to education, healthcare, and resources.

Unclean needles, unsafe blood donations and transfusions, and sex have played major roles in shaping the current HIV/AIDS situation in China. How the government and international community is responding will shape the future of this disease in China.

Joy Liu

Durham, North Carolina

Team 2: Servant Scholars

Freshman – Duke University

Sources: HIV & AIDS in China, CHAIN Project

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HIV/AIDS in China Part 1

Joy Liu — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 03:53:27 +0000

This week, I had the opportunity to attend Duke University’s Undergraduate Winter Forum: Pandemic 2011. Throughout the three-day conference, I explored the ethics, narrative, policy and biology of infectious diseases, specifically influenza. During the conference, we had the opportunity to talk (via web conferencing) with Dr. Rutao Wang, who directs the CHAIN Project (China’s premiere HIV/AIDS information network). His lecture centered on China’s system of surveillance and control of epidemics, which was altered in light of the SARS outbreak in 2003. However, some aspects of his lecture also touched upon the issue of the CHAIN Project and the wider issue of HIV/AIDS in China. While not a highly profiled disease in China, HIV/AIDS affects over 740,000 people in China. The numbers are on the rise, and the Chinese government has realized the need to tackle the issue. Dr. Wang’s lecture piqued my interest in this issue, which I hope to explore further through a series of articles in the next month. In part one, I will outline the basic history of HIV/AIDS in China and present the current situation.

As history has shown, denial is often the first reaction to the introduction of new diseases. Moreover, certain groups are heavily stigmatized when a disease is first discovered in a population. When first seen in the US, HIV/AIDS was associated with specific groups. Namely, the “Four-H Club”: homosexuals, Haitians, hemophiliacs, and heroin users. The disease was largely discredited and attributed to the behaviors of these groups until it gained a wider foothold in America. Similarly, the first cases of HIV/AIDS in China were identified with foreigners, homosexuals, and drug users. The first cases diagnosed were attributed to foreigners. For the first few years, the Chinese government targeted efforts at screening incoming foreign students. However, as the disease gained a wider foothold in the late 1980s and early 1990s, HIV/AIDS became attributed with the homosexuals and drug users. Both groups, heavily stigmatized in China even to this day, were seen as citizens on the edge of society. The disease was still regarded as a limited problem, one that the government was loath to fully acknowledge and devoted the full measure of resources to.

However, a sharp increase in the number of HIV/AIDS cases in the mid 1990s changed perceptions. By 1998, the disease was geographically widespread, being reported in all 31 provinces. Transmission occurred through heterosexual sex as well as contaminated blood donations (due to an unreliable blood supply). China could no longer deny the situation, and the government’s attitude drastically changed in the 2000s, especially after the 2003 SARS outbreak. Public health was really recognized as a necessary component of economic and social stability. Since then, initiatives such as the CHAIN Project have taken hold. The government has been willing to accept overseas support and an increased budget for combating HIV/AIDS.

Despite these efforts, the current situation in China is still bleak. It’s difficult to provide an accurate estimate because some officials are hesitant to report the numbers. The number of cases may also be an underestimate, especially since many cases in rural areas are believed to be left out. In addition, China faces major issues with discrimination and stigmatization. Many individuals may be hesitant to reveal their status. But steps in the right direction have been taken. Dedication and targeted efforts bring hope.

Joy Liu

Durham, North Carolina

Team 2: Servant Scholars

Freshman – Duke University

Sources: HIV/AIDS in China, CHAIN Project

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