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BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese province has taken the
unusual step of fining hotels and bars more than $600
if they do not provide condoms, part of efforts to
fight the spread of AIDS, a newspaper said on Friday.

The booming eastern province of Zhejiang, with 1,859
recorded infections by the end of last year, started
enforcing the rules on Thursday, the Beijing News
said.

"Condoms or condom-vending machines must be placed in
hotels, bars and designated public places, or the
managers will be fined 5,000 yuan ($650)," the report
said.

The Chinese government originally stigmatized AIDS as
a disease of the decadent, capitalist West -- a
problem of gays, sex workers and drug users.
Traditionally, none of these officially existed in
communist China.

It has belatedly woken up to the problem, and health
experts have warned the virus is now moving into the
general population.

But a lack of sex education and unwillingness to talk
about sex still hampers the fight, health experts say.

($1=7.743 Yuan)

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