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.

60365    These women work as maids for Hong Kongites or foreign residents.

60366    They get one day off per week.

60367    They spend it exchanging information and recent news, forming groups in parks, sidewalks, and at the corners of office buildings.

60368    Outdoor stalls catering to these women have sprouted up, as well as an informational paper in Tagalog.

60369    A male Filipino photographer earnestly tries to make a sale, displaying sample photos in one hand and asking, "How about a commemorative photo?"

60370    The economy of Hong Kong has developed to the point that its per capita gross national product surpasses that of its ruler, Britain.

60371    It is very common for middle-class and higher double income families to hire maids.

60372    The number of women leaving the Philippines in order to work continues to increase annually, and an estimated 110,000 to 120,000 women are working in Hong Kong at present.

60373    They account for approximately two percent of the Hong Kong population of six million, and constitute the largest population of foreigners in Hong Kong.

60374    In 1986 they numbered around 37,000, a number that tripled in under ten years.