<div id="subtitle">Media attention keeps Chinese gay bar conspicuously empty at its opening</div><div><p>A new bar in southwestern China aimed at educating gay men about AIDS stayed conspicuously empty during its official opening as potential customers shunned the spotlight, state media said Wednesday.</p><p>The bar, which receives government funding from the health bureau in Yunnan province's Dali town, was slated to open Tuesday to mark World AIDS Day, the China Daily reported.</p><p>But the intense media attention that greeted the announcement of its opening kept customers away, Zhang Jianbo, the bar's owner and a local AIDS doctor in Dali, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.</p><p>"They refused to show up at the opening for fear of media exposure and potential discrimination," he said.</p><p>China has a growing AIDS problem with an estimated 740,000 HIV infections, the Health Ministry has said. Same-sex transmission accounts for about a third of new HIV infections, while heterosexual transmission has soared to 40 percent of new cases, a recent UNAIDS report said. The disease is also passed through dirty needles shared by drug users.</p><p>Zhang, a doctor at the Dali No. 2 People's Hospital, said the goal of the bar is to create a gathering spot where groups at high risk for HIV, particularly gay men, can gather and obtain information on AIDS and prevention.</p><p>"As a long-term medical worker in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, I know how hard it is for us to reach these groups to promote self-protection messages like safe sex," the newspaper quoted him as saying.</p><p>The local health bureau has earmarked about 120,000 yuan ($17,650) for Zhang's operation, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.</p><p>The bar, nestled in a small alley in the tourist town of Dali, opened informally in November, drawing dozens of gay men seeking information about AIDS and a sense of community, Zhang told Xinhua.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=64598007&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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