An eight-year-old boy in Sichuan Province is the center of social media attention both in China and around the world because about 200 villagers signed a petition asking authorities to isolate Kun Kun who is HIV positive.

What is ironic is that even the elderly couple who are Kun Kun's grandparents are in favor of the proposal, although after he signed the petition, the grandfather was seen heading for home with a sad face. However, he said he had to sign because they are too old and could not take care of Kun Kun

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The elder couple are not really his blood grandparents because they are the father and mother of the boy's stepfather. The mother contracted HIV while pregnant with Kun Kun whom she and her partner left with the man's parents.

Because of the fear of villagers that they would contract the deadly virus if they come in physical contact with the poor buy, the kid is left alone to play with himself, including playing with fire which resulting in him burning the house of his grandparents.

The villagers are confused, worried by fear of getting HIV, although they do actually pity Kun Kun.

Wang Yishu, party secretary of the village, told BBC, "Everyone pities him, he's innocent and after all he's just a child. But the fact that he has Aids is too scary for this village. We don't know what to do with him."

The child is a topic of discussion in Weibo, China's equivalent of microblogging site Twitter.

To address the village's quandary, a local official reveals plan to educate the villagers on HIV and look for an organization that could provide Kun Kun the proper care he deserves.

Justice for All, an anti-discrimination NGO based in Nanjing, wrote to party heads in Sichuan to ask them to punish school and local officials for their "Cultural Revolution style" of approach to Kun Kun which is like treating the boy an enemy.

"We cannot imagine how Kun Kun will grow up and look back on the experience of childhood," the NGO said in its letter, quoted by BusinessInsider.

TagsHIV, AIDS