SINIC CONUNDRUM - A HISTORY OF HIV AIDS IN THE PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA

China's HIV/AIDS case rate continues to grow despite national and Worl d Health Organization efforts. Reports in Western journals are nearly nonexistent, and what is in print does not provide evidence of the inf ection's historical progress. I traced progress of the infection since my last report (1991) and based current findings on unobtrusive data [HIV blood screening (assays)] provided by State epidemiology-preventi on stations and on ethnographic interviews conducted with public healt h officials from the Center for AIDS Surveillance, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, and epidemiology personnel in Beijing, Chengdu, C hongqing, and Shanghai during fieldwork in China in 1992 and 1993. Cul tural, social, economic, and political factors involved in China's his torical attempts to manage a growing HN case rate are discussed. Toget her, data reveal a widening geographic and social distribution. of the virus over time, which, in conclusion, should now qualify China's HIV status as epidemic.