INCREASING numbers of Chinese immigrants and a recessionary economy at home have prompted three Australians to head east to learn the secrets of a traditional commercial enterprise in Hongkong: the lion dance.
Arthur Economou, Tony Stojic and Samuel Eisocovigh gave up their jobs in Sydney three months ago and came to Hongkong in a bid to save their ailing kung fu school - the International Yau Kung Mun - from the claws of recession.
They plan a heroic return, lion-dancing their way to a mini-fortune to prop up the school, and in the process dazzling the growing number of firms opening in Sydney's Chinatown with a spectacular dance routine.
Mr Economou, a 24-year-old former accountant with biscuit maker George Weston, said: ''Chinatown is pretty big in Sydney, and come Chinese New Year everyone hangs money up to be taken [by the lion].
''Big places - restaurants and shops - always make money, and they will pay a lot to have a show like this in Australia, especially now with more people moving out of Hongkong and taking up residency.'' The three took up kung fu four years ago, after flirting with martial arts including karate and tai kwon do, and started to learn lion dance routines as a means of supporting the school.
But lion dances Australian-style lack the razzmatazz of a full-blown Hongkong routine, and have been copied many times, making for a dull spectacle, they say.