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RUILI, China (IPS) — It is a cold winter's night, but the women are out walking in this frontier town in south-western China, near the border with Burma.

One woman approaches a man she spots, and whispers something to him, before walking to the traffic lights and sitting alone. Occasionally, one hears voices ask in Chinese, ''Do you want to have sex?'' If the men shake their heads, the women return and gather together.

This is a daily sight in the Chinese towns bordering Burma. In Ruili, which is Yunnan province just across from north-east Burma, the situation is no different.

Chaw Chaw, 28, is a striking character amidst all this. When a Chinese man walks past her and suddenly asks, ''How much?'' she quickly replies, ''20 yuan (2.40 U.S. dollars).''

The man continues walking.

Chaw Chaw keeps smiling and continues to look for another client along Jie Kang road, which is half a kilometre long and situated near the gem market in Ruili.

During the day, Jie Kang is like any other road, but as soon as darkness falls, it becomes a sex market.

More than 30 Burmese sex workers emerge and can be seen every evening, wearing perfume, makeup, tight dresses and high heels. Despite the cold weather at this time of the year, they do not wear coats. The sounds of bicycles, trishaws, cars and Chinese and Burmese karaoke ring out on this street. Their music accompanies the ongoing drama.

Chaw Chaw chose to be a sex worker for the same reason as many others: money. Economic hardship forces Burmese people to migrate to other countries to work and support families back home, and the border towns are a natural magnet for those seeking more income. The sex workers in Ruili make more money than they ever could in the economic turmoil of their native Burma.

Nevertheless, risks come with the lives of Ruili's sex workers. Among others, having unprotected sex with multiple partners, coupled with their mobility, mean a high risk of contracting HIV. Various reports have placed at up to 63 percent the number of sex workers in Ruili's brothels who say they do not regularly use condoms.

Walking the streets has been Chaw Chaw's job for seven months. ''I have to earn at least 20 yuan every night to pay rent and for food,'' she says, while looking for customers.

Chaw Chaw is divorced and has a four-year-old daughter. She comes from a small village in the Irrawaddy Division in lower Burma, where her daughter still lives with her brother's family.

She previously worked for eight months in a garment factory in Rangoon, but quit over the low monthly pay, which was 16,000 kyat, or 16 U.S. dollars through unofficial exchange rates.

A broker later brought Chaw Chaw to Ruili to work as a sex worker. She misses her daughter, but now earns upward of 50,000 kyat - more than three times her factory wage.

On Jie Kang road, Burmese and Chinese sex workers operate alongside each other. Of the two, Burmese sex workers are more 'popular' than the Chinese, says 20-year-old Yu Yu, a friend of Chaw Chaw's.

''Burmese are cheaper,'' says Yu Yu, who came to Ruili from Rangoon four years ago to work in the sex industry. Burmese sex workers charge only 10 yuan - and Chinese women ask for three times that amount, she explains.

Most of the customers are Chinese, but there are a few Burmese too, says Yu Yu. Yunnan province, which adjoins Burma, Laos and Vietnam, has become a funnelling point for migrant workers since China opened its borders in the eighties.

Estimates in 2002 put the Burmese migrant population in Ruili at 1,500. Residents in Ruili estimate that 20,000 Burmese migrants live in Yunnan.

In Ruili and its neighbouring town of Muse in Burma, drugs such as heroin and methamphetamines are plentiful and the border is porous. Intravenous use of these drugs and sharing of needles contribute to the HIV/AIDS.

A 2003 United Nations Development Programme report says that, ''Ruili is one of the cities in China where HIV was first detected. It demonstrates the complexity of HIV/AIDS epidemics. Ruili ... illustrates migration and the underlying development forces which stimulate it.''

Mya Kyi, a former health worker with Save the Children UK, offers HIV/AIDS health education to Burmese sex workers. She says the spread of HIV in Ruili is due to lack of condom use.

''They know about HIV (but) cannot protect themselves against it, due to money and business,'' says Mya Kyi. ''It won't do just to educate only girls (sex workers). It is necessary to educate others in the environment.''

Chaw Chaw says that she did not know about condoms until she had been a sex worker for a month. Although she would like to use them, she says it is not always possible if the customer does not want to wear one. Moreover, some clients pay more money for unprotected sex.

''If a man refuses to use (a condom), I look and guess,'' says Chaw Chaw. ''If they look dirty then (I tell them) to go away. If they look okay, then it's not a big deal.''

Yu Yu has adopted the same approach as Chaw Chaw. "If I feel in my mind that the man doesn't have a disease, then (we'll) have sex."

Chaw Chaw knows that her methods are not accurate or scientific, but says it is the only way she can continue her job. ''Over the past six months, I have not used a condom a few times,'' she says. ''I was aware it's the wrong thing to do, but it's my gamble.''

''Of course this job can kill me anytime," Chaw Chaw says, but she has to keep working the streets.