Cheung, meanwhile, is being sued by creditors for a share of the couple's $250 million debts. But the 39-year-old, who runs a boutique in Central, has refused to contemplate bankruptcy, pledging to work hard to pay off the debt, possibly by expanding her clothing line, Teresa, to the mainland.

But bankruptcy seems to follow her around. In July, businessman Edmund Chan, the man she left Bee for but also later split from, declared himself bankrupt.

Another bon vivante, playboy tycoon Louis Lo Siu-fai, can empathise with Bee. The one-time property magnate had his own yacht, Miracle, on which he partied and supposedly frolicked with Hong Kong's rich and beautiful set. As recently as March, when banks were closing in to recover debts of more than $100 million, 37-year-old Lo was hob-nobbing at Pershing Hall, near the Champs Elysees in Paris, which charges between $3,000 and $10,000 a night. In October, he was declared bankrupt after a judge granted a bankruptcy petition from HSBC.

Bee, Chan and Lo are the highest-profile SAR figures in recent memory to go broke. But they are merely the celebrity tip of an iceberg big enough to sink the Superstar Leo. By the end of October, 22,370 bankruptcies had been recorded this year, up from 9,151 for the whole of last year. The number is rising steadily every month, with 2,777 in October alone. In comparison, the total for 1996 was 23.

While the government publicly lays the blame squarely on unemployment, consumer credit and the economy, critics suggest the SAR's laws make it too easy for people to go bankrupt. Some even believe bankruptcy has lost its stigma and has become part of personal financial planning.

'It's too much of an easy option for some people,' says socialite and romance novelist Eunice Lam Yin-nei. 'I know a businessman that I don't have much sympathy for. He declared bankruptcy just to avoid paying his staff and because he had overspent. I think people like that shouldn't be allowed to declare bankruptcy.'

Lam argues bankrupts can all too easily retain the trappings of wealth. 'They can say their car and chauffeur belong to a friend and that their expensive watch is a gift. Some people transfer their assets to other places before declaring bankruptcy. Hong Kong is too lenient.'

Celebrity solicitor Paul Tse Wai-chun, who handles many bankruptcy cases, agrees. 'In the past, going bankrupt carried a stigma, but now it's more like going through a divorce,' he says. 'It's even become quite fashionable to go bankrupt because of the economic situation. Being frugal is in vogue.'

Critics blame the system, which changed in 1998 to allow people to be discharged (cleared of any outstanding repayments) within four years of being declared bankrupt, rather than at the discretion of the court after satisfying a number of stiff requirements. This resulted in the vast majority of bankrupts remaining under the disability of bankruptcy for the rest of their lives. 'It's like going to school knowing that in four years you're going to graduate,' says Tse. Bankruptcy has become more of a financial choice rather than last resort. 'It's become a calculation,' Tse says. 'If people can't see themselves paying debts within four years, they declare bankruptcy.'

Charles Booth, director of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law at the University of Hong Kong, says: 'Before the law was changed it was almost impossible to get a discharge.' As few as one in 100 bankruptcies were discharged, he says, but since the four-year limit was brought in, applications have soared. 'Now people are more comfortable with the notion of going bankrupt,' he says.

Booth believes high bankruptcy rates are healthy if they allow honest debtors to break their downward debt spiral and start afresh, but unhealthy if they encourage people to go on spending sprees on the eve of bankruptcy knowing they will never have to pay back the money. There is evidence this is happening already. There were 11 bankruptcy fraud complaints to police in the whole of 2000, but this year there has been about 40 such cases each month.

Booth warns the increasing glut of bankruptcies means the Official Receiver will find it harder to catch fraudsters and monitor the compliance of bankrupts with court orders (see below). Legislators from the Democratic Party and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong have called for laws to be tightened to prevent abuses, but the Official Receiver's Office is adamant the new law - similar to those in Australia, England and Canada - is working. 'We do not consider it necessary to increase the period,' says a spokeswoman.

Unemployed salesgirl Jennifer Yip, 21, agrees. Three years ago she amassed 12 credit cards from banks and stores and ran up debts of more than $200,000. 'Then I lost my job and didn't know what to do,' she says. 'I had debt collectors calling and frightening my family.' Yip saw a lawyer and was advised to declare bankruptcy. 'At least when I'm 25 I can start again,' Yip adds. 'I think it's fair that we get another chance.'

Booth says the answer to the growing bankruptcy rate lies more with society than legislation, teaching people how to manage money better and of the 'moral responsibility to pay one's contractual and financial obligations'.

Eunice Lam agrees. 'People admire Kenny's courage in facing bankruptcy,' she says. 'Face means a great deal in show business, but he is prepared to work hard to repay his debts.'