Patients at the HIV/AIDS center are treated to a variety of nutritious soups and foods, and of course the full spectrum of delicious traditional Chinese dishes during each festival. They form a community in which they can network with each other and share information and experiences. There are also many professional lectures on AIDS prevention and treatment. In addition to medical attention, the center organizes fun activities like Spring and Autumn outings, picnicking and mountain climbing, giving patients a bit of happiness and relaxation.

Mr. Xu tested positive at the end of 2000 and for the last ten years has gone through all the typical anguish: the initial psychological collapse, the social reproach and prejudices, HIV-related opportunistic infections, and medical side effects.

"To me it felt like the end of the world, and I was obsessed with the idea of suicide, calculating the perfect time, place and method over and over in my mind. But I was also reluctant to leave this world, and the tug of war between the two impulses almost tore me to pieces," he recalled. Fortunately he came across this excellent and talented group of medical professionals and volunteers. "The support and care of these saviors has pulled me out of my despair and given me the strength and confidence to go on."

A Dark Past

China's first AIDS case was reported in 1985. At that time, doctors and nurses who worked in the AIDS wards would don an assortment of insulating garments, gauze masks, goggles and even galoshes. "Despite all this protection, we still thought that the virus could be all-pervasive," an anonymous doctor at Ditan Hospital confessed of the original assumptions about contact with AIDS patients.

It was a harsh time for those infected. Even family members would, in most cases, turn their backs on them. Occasionally a few close relatives would take the risk of visiting wearing double-layered gauze masks, standing in the safety area outside the ward, and expressing their care through the glass window. The mere talk of HIV or AIDS would bring about horrible expressions on people's faces, not to mention the thought of direct contact with them.

Due to a shortage of relevant knowledge, HIV/AIDS was once pegged to Category-A control in China, the same level as such deadly infectious diseases as the bubonic plague or Cholera. This category of infection is subjected to compulsory management that exacts the time period for reporting of infected cases, the quarantining procedures, the method of medical treatment, and the risk area control.

As medical research on AIDS developed and more AIDS knowledge became available, on April 2004, the disease was downgraded from a Category-A to Category-B control, and the "compulsory" management was reduced to "strict" management. It also opened a period when the whole society began to treat the disease in a more objective light.