China is the world's most populous nation, and though the government has not released any data on the number of homosexuals or statistics about how common homosexuality is, experts estimate that there are 40 million homosexuals in China.

Professor Cong Zhong of the Beijing University Institute of Mental Health says that in China, many people feel that homosexuality is immoral and are disgusted by it, but this is actually due to a lack of familiarity. According to related studies, homosexuals are members of every social level and class, and the only difference between them and others is their sexual orientation.

Professor Zhang Beichuan, a long-time researcher of homosexuality and member of the policy sub-group in the Ministry of Health HIV/AIDS information committee, is deeply troubled: "Among the approximately 40 million homosexuals," he said, "about 80% are under social and traditional pressure and are already married or will get married in the future. This marginalized population has brought with it a social problem that is difficult to ignore."

This journalist learned from the Heilongjiang Province CDC that the Chinese and US CDCs, in cooperation with social service departments, have started China's first survey of HIV/AIDS among the homosexual population, and the the survey has already entered the data analysis phase. The Heilongjiang CDC has established the first homosexual high-risk HIV/AIDS screening site in China.

[ed note: surveys of HIV prevalence among the homosexual and MSM community have been done in at least three cities in China, Beijing, Shenzhen and Harbin. Other surveys are underway in Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, and Shanghai. To date, reported HIV prevalence rates range from 2.4% to 3.4%. Though there are some questions about the sample size and methodology of these studies, and they are insufficient to establish a firm national infection rate, if the expert estimates of 40 million homosexuals in China are anywhere close to accurate, even a 1% HIV infection rate would increase the number of HIV infections in China by 50%.]