When Song Zhimao climbed the Jinshanling Great Wall in Beijing on Saturday afternoon, he attracted a lot of attention. He was wearing a qipao (a traditional Chinese dress for women) and a pair of high heels.

Song did so for a meaningful purpose. The 25-year-old was one of the 115 volunteers from home and abroad, who joined the first China AIDS Walk event for a three-hour hike to create awareness about HIV/AIDS and call for an end to discrimination against people with the disease.

"I promised my friends that I'd cross-dress if they make a cash donation toward the program. I kept my word and dressed in women's clothes for the first time," says Song, the co-founder of Ijustwannabuy.com, an English-language group-buying website.