AIDS ACTIVIST, AUTHOR AND DOCTOR GAO YAOJIE

In Henan province, Gao Yaojie, 80, avoids other doctors as well as entrepreneurs who seek her endorsement for various cures for AIDS. She also has harsh words for officials who want her approval of their efforts to fight the disease.

She was detained earlier this year trying to get to Beijing to pick up a visa from the US embassy in order to attend a banquet in her honor in Washington. Under pressure, authorities relented and let her receive an award from the nonprofit Vital Voices Global Partnership.

The Central Government's rhetoric on HIV/AIDS has improved recently, but grassroots and provincial level policy are rarely on the same page, details here.