Another of China's major HIV carriers appears to be the increasing number of itinerant workers who are for the most part, young, poorly educated labourers, in a sexually active period of their life (10) . During the Maoist era, a strict system of household registration kept most people confined to the immediate area in which they lived. With China's increasing economic prosperity and personal freedoms, such limitations were lifted and people were freely able to travel around. Rapid modernisation and industrial development also contributed to this demographic (4). The situation was compounded in poorer rural areas, where many young people left their hometown in search of a more prosperous life in urban centres (18) . Additionally, there were around 40 million workers who became unemployed when previously state-owned enterprises failed due to free-market economic reform. Itinerant workers now number at least 120 million (6) . Most of them are between 15 and 45 years of age, and by the nature of their demographic, represent a floating population that is difficult to educate, monitor and treat. They typically travel between their rural hometowns and cities seeking itinerant work, thereby providing an ideal vector for the extensive dissemination of HIV infection to remote areas (10) .