60351 The most compelling reason is the economic stimulation Hong Kong Towns contribute to low profile Toronto, Canada.
60352 The largest local Chinese language daily newspaper, the Sing Tao Daily, illustrates this point.
60353 Almost 80% of the approximately 30-page newspaper is devoted to advertising, and even so, ad space is insufficient.
60354 In October of last year it spent a total of six million Canadian dollars to construct a three-story editing and printing center.
60355 "We procured all of the funding locally. We borrowed from banks, but we did not once need support from the head office," chief editor Gu says proudly.
60356 Last December the first charging retirement home exclusively for Chinese immigrants opened its doors in Toronto.
60357 The 12 million Canadian dollars it took to build it was raised entirely through charity fundraising and donations, and according chief editor Gu, "It's fair to say over half is Hong Kong money."
60358 No one knows the exact amount of "Hong Kong money" that has been invested in Toronto, including the construction of shopping centers and buying or building of houses.
60359 An estimate given by President Wang Manwen of the Bank of East Asia, a Hong Kong-affiliated bank, puts the figure at about two billion Canadian dollars.
60360 Hong Kong has begun the countdown to its reversion to China in July, 1997.
60361 While some people are moving overseas in apprehension over the future, Chinese and foreigners, attracted by economic opportunity, are coming to Hong Kong.
60362 While a great deal of attention has been focused on Hong Kong residents escaping overseas after the 1989 Tianamen Square Massacre, the booming trend of foreigners moving to Hong Kong in recent years is surprisingly much less known.
60363 With Hong Kong's place as the financial and trade center of Asia and its rapid internationalization, the '97 reversion is not only of interest to residents of Chinese extraction.
60364 The heart of the Hong Kong economy lies in the island's Central District with its concentration of skyscrapers, banks and designer shops, but it undergoes a complete transformation into a "Little Manila" teeming with Filipino women on Sunday.