Kong is a neatly dressed, soft-spoken man in his late thirties, with deep lines in his face and a warm smile. He is a painter, and his abstract works are jumbles of bright-colored elongated figures, grimacing demons, and laughing babies that seem to spill over the edges of the wooden frame. “This one is called ‘Paths and Roads’,” he says, pointing to one. "Some I have traveled on, and others I haven't been down yet." He chain-smokes while he slowly talks, pausing to exhale and think between sentences.
I began to do AIDS work as a volunteer in my hometown, just because I was interested. One day I had this big idea, I thought it was a really good idea: why not start a home for AIDS patients? These people are often discriminated against, especially if they are drug users. They can't find any kind of work. Because their friends and family reject them, they can't buy medication, they have no income. Many people have died in front of me, and no one else dared to care for them or help them. I set up a home, and found a small piece of land so they could grow some vegetables, raise some animals, and taught them to make crafts, such as clothes, to sell in a store. About ten AIDS patients participated.
I applied for funding from an international foundation, and I got the grant, and asked the local government to support [the project]. In the beginning they agreed. But after I had already set the place up, the money still hadn't come, and I didn't know where it went. The foundation gave the money to the [local] health bureau, and they just kept the funds. The health bureau gave us a few thousand yuan for rent, but the rest of the money never came. When I asked at the health bureau, they said, “We don't need you to manage this, we'll take care of it ourselves.” But they never did anything.
Because I was trying to raise funding, I did some reports about this work, including a VCD127 that explained what I was doing and why it was important to help AIDS patients. Thus my identity became public. This had a major effect on me. My mother, father, elder and younger sisters, and friends all feared me. They wouldn't eat with me. They took my clothes and belongings and threw them out the front door.
No one dared to help me. In my own town, everyone knew who I was. I became a living symbol of AIDS. When I went anywhere, it was as if AIDS came into that place because I brought it there. Even other infected people would not be seen with me, because if other people saw them with me they would guess that something was up.
I left that place, I was hurt and suffering. I moved up to Kunming, and I sought comfort in drugs.
After this interview, Kong returned to his hometown to visit his family over the Spring Festival holiday and disappeared. He was later reported to be in detention in his hometown on drug-related charges.
