BEIJING, Nov. 30 -- More than 20 young people with eye-catching AIDS labels on the backs of their shirts embraced passersby on Sunday in downtown Chengdu, southwestern China's Sichuan province, the West China City Daily reports.

    The young people wearing panda-like shirts that read "Care for HIV/AIDS Suffers, No Discrimination" were volunteers from the Aibai Culture and Education Center, a local organization committed to promoting HIV prevention and caring for homosexuals.

    Employees from the organization said the event, coming ahead of World AIDS Day which falls on December 1, aimed to raise awareness against HIV/AIDS discrimination and promote community-wide care for the group.

    Some 110 local citizens hugged the young people during the two-hour activity, the report said. China reported nearly 320,000 cases of AIDS patients and people living with HIV and 49,845 related deaths as of October 31.

    (Source: english.cri.cn)