On the world stage, HIV/AIDS is a scourge, an epidemic that has killed millions and will likely kill millions more, a disease to be controlled and hopefully eradicated. But in at least one country, AIDS is perceived quite differently by some. It's a way to make money, a way to profit from the sick and even the young. It's also something to hide – except for individuals who took a risk and told their stories of China's deadly secret.

Shuang Miao is a village with secrets. The people who live here would like to tell what they know, but they aren't allowed to talk to strangers. And strangers aren't allowed to talk to them. The officials who try to stop us from meeting the villagers are afraid we'll find out more about how many people here are living with HIV/AIDS and how they caught it.

But the secret's already out. An epidemic caused by official mismanagement, greed and corruption has struck at thousands of villages like this one. The attempt to cover up the scale of the problem might have been successful were it not for the bravery of a few individuals willing to stand up to attempts to shut them up.

Dr. Gao Yao Hie

Dr. Gao Yao Hie, a gynecologist from Henan province was the first to sound the alarm in 1996 when she began to see patients dying from AIDS. She quickly realized they'd been infected while selling blood. Rare pictures from Chinese television showed the ghastly conditions at one of the centres that collected blood plasma from millions of peasants for sale to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.

Zhu Jing Zhong began selling his blood when his family found itself in financial difficulty in the mid 1990s. He was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2001. In his village, he couldn't say much because officials have big ears. We met later and he told me who organized the deadly blood collection centres and reaped huge profits from them.

Zhu Jing Zhong

"They were all officials from the provincial Health Department or the epidemic control bureau, and their relatives and friends. Without those connections, you could not possibly set up a blood collection centre," Zhu says.

In Zhu Jing Zhong's village, at least 400 people are, like him, living with HIV/AIDS. More than 150 have died leaving behind them a growing number of orphans. Seeing a problem the government was doing nothing to solve, Zhu Jing Zhong began to take the children in. Soon his house was home to more than 50 youngsters orphaned by AIDS. The story of Zhu Jing Zhong's orphanage, the Sunshine Home, soon spread across the country.

One man read about it in a newspaper in faraway Shendong province. Wang Lao Shi sold his house in Shendong and brought the proceeds from the sale and his teaching skills to the orphanage.

Zhu Jing Zhong and the children became even more widely known through a documentary called 50 children with one father broadcast on national Chinese television on International AIDS Day last December. The reporter, Wu Jing, was arrested by Henan police and then went back secretly to complete a program, which raised a million yuan, about $200,000, for the Sunshine Home. The reporter is not allowed to give interviews, but one anchor, Yang Rui, says more and more Chinese journalists are finding the courage to challenge authorities.

"More and more people are joining us in fighting the public enemy here in this country. It's not just about corruption. It's about our ignorance, it's about our indifference, inability, inaction, and what the media is doing is to change thoroughly, fundamentally the insufficient public awareness," the anchor says.

Blood

A striking example of official dishonesty and greed was witnessed by AIDS activist Hu Jia and his small video camera.

"Luckily, those officials didn't really understand how digital video cameras work. I was carrying it like this... but actually the camera was pointing right at them, secretly recording. This is where they announce the orphanage has to close," Hu says.

Children whose parents were exploited for their blood and are now dead are about to be exploited themselves. Laughing and smoking, local government officials come to tell the villagers the Sunshine Home orphanage will have to close because it doesn't have a permit. The villagers argue back.

"You are a party secretary. Is this how you should behave?" one says.

But they might as well be talking to a brick wall. The decision has already been made. It's the children's turn next. They're given a choice: move to a new government orphanage or take their chances in the outside world. At first, the children are angry and defiant. Then come the tears. After losing their parents to AIDS, the children found a new family in the Sunshine Home orphanage. They don't understand why they're being kicked out of their home. The adults understand all too well.

Village elder Lao Zhang wants to talk privately. "Now I can talk. Let me tell you, they had their eyes on that million yuan. That's why they won't let Zhu Jing Zhong run the orphanage, even though it's quite legal," Lao says.

Provincial officials have grabbed the million yuan donated by people moved by the TV program about the Sunshine Home, and they want more of the same.

After ignoring the problem for years, Henan province began to build a new showplace orphanage just days after the TV program. Foreigners are now being invited to visit and, of course, donations will be welcome.

"The Henan provincial government realized that AIDS orphans are a money-making opportunity. They attract money," Hu says. "Now Zhu Jing Zhong's orphanage is closed down. People who want to support the orphans, whether from China or from international organizations, can only donate to them."

Wang Lao Shi

At Zhu Jing Zhong's Sunshine Home orphanage, the 73-year-old teacher who sold his house to come and help the children is beside himself with sorrow and rage.

"The Communist party is good. The central government is good... These local officials are so bad, greedy and corrupt," he says.

Upstairs, the children pack up their meagre belongings. This has been their home for over a year. Most are going to the new government orphanage. Others are planning to stay with relatives or friends of their dead parents.

China's political system, the one-party state, bears a lot of responsibility for this epidemic. Local party officials are just about untouchable, and the central government is reluctant to intervene for fear of bringing down the whole system. There's even a proverb about Beijing's inability to control the provinces. "The mightiest dragon can't crush a local snake."

In Henan province, the most powerful local snake is provincial governor Li Chung Yu. Showing not a hint of shame or remorse for what his subordinates have done, he blames the victims.

Li Chung Yu

"Blood was sold because of economic and social underdevelopment, and because people lacked common sense. Blood was sold, and people were infected," Li says.

Not a single official has been punished.

As for Gao Yao Jie, the small-town doctor who revealed the epidemic, she's won international recognition as well as awards from the central government.

At home in Henan, she's treated like a criminal. She's followed, her phone is bugged, her family harassed. Henan officials say only 11,000 people have been infected. The World Health Organization reports at least 100,000. The true figure may be even higher. The majority of those infected don't even know they have the disease. The epidemic has only just begun.

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