To mark World AIDS Day, DOKBOX presents Ximei.
During a government-sponsored blood campaign, peasants from China’s Henan Province queued in front of vans to sell their blood for approximately 5 dollars, a month’s wages. 300,000 people were infected with HIV from contaminated equipment and transfusions, sparking a full-blown epidemic, followed by a scandalous cover up.
Ximei, a victim of this Black Blood economy, fights against the injustice while fighting the disease.
Even as local officials try to terrorize Ximei into silence, sequester her in an AIDS Village, and close down her halfway house for victims and their orphans, she single-handedly fights for her fellow patients to receive medical treatment and to overcome social and work discrimination.
Ximei's courageous actions and fiery character transform the tragedy of Henan's HIV-infected outcasts into lives of hope and dignity.