Hong Kong women seek mainland love

GUANGZHOU: The number of Hong Kong women marrying men from the mainland has increased steadily in recent years, amid an overall decline in mainland-Hong Kong marriages.

More than 34,500 permanent residents of Hong Kong married mainlanders in 2006, accounting for about half of all marriages involving Hongkongers during the period.

Some 6,500 of those unions involved Hong Kong women tying the knot with mainlanders, up from less than 2,000 in 1996, and accounting for 19 percent of all Hong Kong-mainland marriages that year.