| Summary: |
One of the most startling changes in post-Mao China is the blossoming of brash and bountiful visions of sex and sexuality. Gone are the days when men and women looked and dressed alike in shapeless dark-blue or gray clothes. Yet, as many of my informants note, accompanying these dramatic changes are the negative consequences of the visible explosion in sexual practices, the commercialization of women’s bodies, and the rampant increase in sexually transmitted diseases (xingbing and hereafter referred to as STDs) and now, HIV/AIDS (aizibing). In the Yunnan city of Jinghong, near the Laos border, the risk of HIV is linked to the emergence of prostitution and the rise of sex tourism. The Chinese HIV/AIDS epidemic provides a window to view the ways that globalization and commodification transform both how bodies are gendered, sexed and sold, and how the flow of bodies, ideas, fantasies and commercial desires converge in one epidemic.
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