Survey finds beggars living it up

MANY professional beggars in Shenzhen are earning as much as wealthy people, spending heavily on prostitutes and feasts, a police survey said.

Security forces in the Lowu district ''swept away'' 300 jobless people, half of them beggars, this month.

The semi-official Hong Kong China News Agency reported yesterday that most of these beggars were strong and healthy, with ''rosy cheeks''.

''There is no sign of hunger or poverty at all. Some of them even have credit cards in their pockets,'' it said.

Authorities employed security agents to trace Lowu beggars.

One was found with a teenage prostitute in an open area where his fellow beggars were sleeping.