Builders have been working on the structure for more than a year, installing chandeliers, carved wooden doors, Italian-style columns and an industrial-sized kitchen.

At present the association operates from an office in Sheung Wan. Its president, Hui Chi-ming, said the new clubhouse was an old building that had undergone extensive renovations, due to be completed in May.

Dr Hui could not comment on how much the project would cost but said the association had more than 5,000 members - mainly private businessmen from the mainland.

Membership fees cost from $2,000 a year for individual members to $10,000 for corporate clients.

When asked why the club was doing so well while others were finding it difficult to survive, Dr Hui said: 'It is difficult to define what is good and what is not good. We just do our best.'

According to the association's Web site, the club's main mission is to strengthen economic and commercial business and trading ties with the mainland and overseas.

It counts National People's Congress Standing Committee member Tsang Hin-chi as its chief special adviser.

In September, the exclusive Tower Club closed without warning, owing $30 million to creditors and members who paid $20,000 for the privilege of joining, plus $700 a month in fees.

The 17-year-old club in Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, had fewer than 1,000 members when it went into liquidation.

And last month the Hong Kong Japanese Club announced declining membership had forced it to seek more foreign members.

The club, formerly an exclusive association for Japan nationals and a small number of outsiders and guests, made plans to double the number of non-Japanese on its books from 276 to more than 500.

A spokesman for the club, based at the Hennessy Centre in Causeway Bay, believed the decline was because many Japanese in Hong Kong were living in a less grand style, with membership down from 4,228 in 1996 to 2,551.