BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Members of public, celebrities and condom manufacturers embarked on a "Great AIDS Walk" at the Great Wall on a chilly Sunday morning to generate funds for the country's fight against HIV/AIDS and raise public awareness of the disease.

The four-kilometer walk at Juyongguan Great Wall, jointly organized by UNAIDS and China Red Cross Foundation and with the support of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GBC), attracted more than 2,000 people.

Joining the public were health officials, international organization representatives, NGOs, 1960s ping-pong world champion Zhuang Zedong, Miss China International, foreigners and private sector sponsors.

Volunteers, most college students, decorated their clothes with blown-up condoms while handing out condoms to passers-by, and children enjoyed themselves by ballooning condoms. Health Minister Chen Zhu warned last week, "Sex has become the main channel of contracting HIV in China."

Su Juxiang, vice-president of the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), said at the foot of the Great Wall that the RCSC, as a non-governmental organization that played an increasingly important role in China, would be "committed" to the "humanitarian control and prevention of AIDS".

"AIDS is a strategic issue concerning the rise and fall of the nation," said Su.

By the end of October 2007, a total of 223,501 people had been officially reported to have contracted HIV, including 62,838 AIDS patients, according to an appraisal report by the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS.

Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the hardest-hit place by the disease, has nearly a quarter of the country's total HIV carriers, a large proportion of whom contracted the virus by sharing intravenous drug needles.

Though the rate of AIDS growth has slowed, the government has admitted the situation "remains grave" in a country with a population of 1.3 billion. Official reports say there are estimated to be as many as 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in China.

Khalid Malik, UN Resident Coordinator in China, said discrimination was the biggest challenge faced by the fight against the disease, but Chinese leaders including Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao had vowed to eliminate discrimination, as shown by the theme of this year's World AIDS Day -- "leadership"-- which was marked on Saturday.

According to the RCSC, the event was aimed at raising awareness of AIDS issues in China, mobilizing leaders in various sectors and generating funds to support the AIDS campaign via the China Red Cross Foundation (CRCF).

Wang Rupeng, the CRCF secretary-general, said a total of 150,000 yuan (19,700 U.S. dollars) had been raised through the event as each participant had donated at least 100 yuan (13.16 U.S. dollars).

"All donations for this event will be used to build a 'Sunlight Garden' to conduct peer education and training related to AIDS treatment and care," said Wang.

The campaign received sponsorship worth more than 600,000 yuan(79,000 U.S. dollars), including 50,000 U.S. dollars from the UNAIDS and more than 400,000 yuan (52.6 U.S. dollars) from the country's private sectors.