Beginning on January 1 of next year, Yunnan will require all couples intending to marry in the province to take compulsory HIV tests prior to getting married, according to this Reuters report. The test will be free and results will be provided to the partner of anyone who is found to be carrying the virus if they do not notify their would-be spouse.

Yunnan officially has more than 47,000 HIV/AIDS cases -roughly 25% of the country's total - but most observers believe that the number significantly underestimates the scope of the disease provincewide. The disease first took hold in Yunnan in the 1990s via intravenous drug use fueled by an ample supply of heroin from the Golden Triangle in northern Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

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