Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - Wednesday, 24 November, 2004
Louisa Lim, BBC correspondent in Beijing
Administrators at Peking University and Tsinghua University said the campaign was unacceptable.
It is a sign of how Aids prevention work on the mainland is being hampered by bureaucracy and traditional taboos.
Some one million people are infected by HIV, the virus which can lead to Aids, in China.
China has planned a flurry of activities for next week's World Aids Day, hoping to give a higher profile to attempts to combat the disease.
Organisers were trying to give out free condoms to students at the capital's top two universities when they were stopped by school authorities.
The Xinhua news agency quoted one school official as saying more emphasis should be placed on guiding students not to have premarital sex.
Other campuses did not object to the condom handout, but the row shows how conservative attitudes dominate even the most free-thinking institutions.
As a result, Aids awareness here is still poor. In one recent survey, 40% of respondents could not name a single way to protect themselves against infection.
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