China waking up to a pandemic.

After years of relative silence on a rapidly expanding AIDS epidemic in this nation of over 1.2 billion people, the Chinese government recently launched several public projects to combat the disease, including the nation's first AIDS prevention campaign targeting gay and bisexual men. The project, started in the rural northeast province of Heilongjiang, follows heterosexual-focused prevention campaigns in 10 other provinces, according to China's People's Daily. And it comes as the Chinese government begins distribution of free condoms to all HIV-positive citizens.