"Selling blood - as long as I'm alive and until the end of my life," has long been a popular saying among farmers who make a living exchanging blood or blood plasma for cash in Henan, Qinghai, Gansu and other poverty-stricken provinces.

About 20 per cent of the officially reported AIDS patients and HIV carriers in the country were infected due to illegal blood donations, according to Sun Jiangping, an expert at China's Disease Prevention and Control Centre.

In some regions of these provinces, 80 per cent of villagers sell their blood frequently.

But unlike blood heads operating in the big cities, the rural blood heads were themselves farmers and did not make much money. For 400 millilitres of blood they received 150 yuan (US$18), of which the blood head kept 15 yuan (US$1.80).

The country's Blood Donation Law stresses that blood donations must be voluntary but allows payment for blood plasma because of its commercial uses.

In 2001, 59 of the 220 plasma collection stations around the country were closed down.

However, on the border of Anhui and Henan provinces, some stations were still engaged in the illegal "trade", according to an investigative report by China Central Television (CCTV).

By convincing one farmer to "donate" plasma, a blood head could earn 2 yuan (24 US cents).

Hundreds of Henan farmers took buses to neighbouring Anhui Province to "donate" plasma, with some donating as many as 13 times a month. Needle-marks covered their arms.

In a CCTV interview, a farmer surnamed Chen, together with his wife, saved 8,600 yuan (US$1,040) for their son's high school tuition fees and another 60,000 yuan (US$7,200) towards his college education from blood donations.

Chen has been making regular donations for 34 years. Every time he gives blood, he has to give the blood heads 15 yuan.

In fact, plasma donations by residents from other provinces are forbidden by law but it seems to have become a custom among farmers in poorer areas to sell blood to alleviate their poverty.

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