Chinese women turn to the sex trade for many reasons, including unemployment, inadequate work skills, gender discrimination, failed marriage, domestic violence, financial troubles and the lack of protection of women's rights. In a study of eight counties in a southwestern province, nearly a quarter of the female migrant workers studied had engaged in commercial sex.

Sex workers in China have many daily fears in their life such as unwanted pregnancy, abortion, venereal infections and sterility. But the biggest fear is not HIV, but about police attack. According to some experts' estimation, there are as many as 10 million illegal full-time sex workers in China, who are constantly under attack from police.

Sex work is the oldest job in human history. Crackdowns are deemed too crude a tool to use in changing these behaviors. The jail terms and fines seem to be ill-suited to deal with HIV/AIDS.

According to many sociologists' research, almost all sex workers started in the industry because of poverty or abduction.

But the prostitutes stayed there for earning and saving money for a better life, and acquiring social contacts for personal advancement in the future. A number of prostitutes spoke of gaining personal freedom.

Sex workers should be encouraged to be cautious about their clients' possible HIV status and take appropriate protections.

New strategies for health education are needed, including communications strategies that use modern tools, such as online media, to reach high-risk people.

Last week, I led a delegation of Chinese lawyers, civil society activists and journalists attending a workshop at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where we addressed the laws on sex work in the context of HIV prevention, treatment and care.

"The criminalization of sex workers is confusing. We find it so difficult to respect people who make a living in sex work," a Chinese lawyer said."We did not know that Chinese sex workers have poor health until we were allowed to learn about it."

The author is a professor of journalism at Tsinghua University. xiguang@tsinghua.edu.cn