Shame in China as village votes to expel HIV-positive boy

The plight of an eight-year-old Chinese boy with HIV, reportedly ordered to leave his village by 200 petitioners, sparked intense online soul-searching Dec. 18 in a country where discrimination against sufferers remains rife.

The boy's guardian, his grandfather, was among those in southwestern Sichuan province who signed an agreement to expel the child to "protect villagers' health", the Global Times reported.

The newspaper, which has close ties to the ruling Communist Party, said the boy contracted the virus from his mother.

The case has highlighted the stigma attached to the disease in China, where many sufferers face widespread discrimination.

Previous reports said the boy -- who was given the pseudonym Kunkun by Chinese media -- was refused admission to local schools and villagers would avoid contact with him.

"Nobody plays (with me), I play alone," Kunkun said, according to a report Wednesday on the website of the People's Daily newspaper.

The website also said Kunkun was referred to as a "time bomb" in the petition.

"The villagers sympathise with him, he is innocent, and only a small child. But his AIDS is too scary for us," Wang Yishu, party chief of Shufangya village, told the website.

The Global Times said the boy's mother left the family in 2006, while his father "lost contact" after Kunkun's condition was diagnosed.

Kunkun sneaked into a specially-convened meeting held earlier this month by villagers to discuss how they would banish him, the report added.