Shanghai will participate in the annual International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day for the first time this year.

The day will be marked on May 21 at the Shanghai Art Museum's Kathleen's 5 restaurant to raise local awareness about AIDS and HIV.

A non-governmental global charity event for AIDS awareness, the Candlelight Memorial Day was first held in New York in 1983. More than 4,500 communities in 93 countries now mark the day. Shanghai will represent China at this year's events, which will be held in 800 communities.

"We want this disease (AIDS) to be better understood in China," said event organizer Kathleen Lau, a Chinese-American who grew up in New York in the 1980s. She added that Shanghai will mark the Candlelight Memorial Day every year.

On May 21, a fund raising will be held during a gala dinner at the restaurant, followed by a cocktail party. Around 800 tickets, at 1,700 yuan (US$210) each, are now available at the restaurant. The night will also be combined with an artwork auction.

Money raised will go to help AIDS-affected families and children in Shanghai and China through two local organizations, the Shanghai Love Club, the AIDS ward at the Shanghai Infectious Disease Hospital, and the Chi Heng Foundation, which works with AIDS-impacted children.

In addition, a month-long series of awareness activities will be held from May 1 to 21, including free public seminars.

Currently, about 70,000 people in China get infected by HIV every year.

(Shanghai Daily April 25, 2006)