HONG KONG Like many people in Hong Kong, Christine Lee prefers to spend her hard earned money across the border in southern China, where goods are often a fraction of the price.

"I try to go to Shenzhen about once a month to get cheap clothes, shoes and things," she said at the border crossing.

Every day, some two hundred thousand of Hong Kong's seven million people pour into China to shop, work, play or enjoy more affordable holiday homes.

Some cost conscious Hong Kong businesses are increasingly moving operations across the border, too, lured by cheaper land and labor and the mainland's rapid economic development.

The trend is having a growing economic impact on Hong Kong, which reverted to Beijing rule in 1997 but is still struggling to define its future role and relationship with China.

China: HK's Saviour, and Rival