New Element in Pairing: a Passport : Hong Kong: China resumes sovereignty of colony in 1997, and many are looking for a way out.

The Chinese for centuries have used matchmakers to pair off men and women with harmonious birth dates and backgrounds, but in Hong Kong, a new factor is being included in the search for eternal bliss--a foreign passport.

China resumes sovereignty over the British colony in 1997 and although the mainland has promised that Hong Kong can continue its free-wheeling capitalist system for 50 years after the transition, tens of thousands of wary residents are scrambling to leave the enclave.

Many hire emigration counselors to help them find a new homeland while others place their trust in the expertise of someone such as Sunny Wong, proprietor of the East Asia Computer Marriage Assn.

From a cramped office in an obscure high-rise on the outskirts of Hong Kong’s traditional red-light district, Wong runs a matchmaking service that draws both local and international customers.

She said her staff of three handles about 60 new Hong Kong clients--mostly women--per month and receives hundreds of inquiries each year from prospective clients in the West, mainly men.

Wong’s is one of many introduction services in Hong Kong helping lonely, future-minded Chinese find love and a foreign passport.

Western immigration officials in the colony say they do not keep track of how many Hong Kong people gain entry to their countries through marriage, although they admit that the number certainly is substantial.

Wong and other matchmaking agencies said they attract overseas clients through advertisements in Chinese-language newspapers and magazines in major U. S. and Canadian cities.

Wong said many of her overseas clients were former Hong Kong residents.

She said people introduced through her service often decide to marry before even meeting each other.

“They communicate through letters, then by phone, then, if they have time, they try to meet,” she said. “But there is not always enough time or money for this.”

Even without meeting their future spouses, gaining a visa to Western countries such as the United States and Canada is relatively trouble-free for such candidates.

“Arranged marriages are still fairly common in Asia,” said Brian Davis, an immigration counselor at the Canadian consulate. “I’ve seen many such marriages last quite a long time.”

Davis said if someone is sponsored as a fiancee by a Canadian national and agrees to be married within 90 days of entering the country, the candidate is granted an emigrant visa and receives Canadian citizenship automatically after residing in the country for three years.

U. S. immigration officials said the United States also grants similar visas to applicants sponsored as fiancees. But they said the government does not have an automatic citizenship program.

Officials from both countries said they tried to ensure each proposed marriage was legitimate and not just a union of convenience, but said it was not possible to keep track of every case.

But lack of regulation is not really a problem, Davis said.

“If a marriage turns out to be a scam and someone gets jilted, we usually find out about it,” he said.

Although Wong said the majority of her local clients were seeking the security of a Western passport in the face of China’s takeover of the colony, she maintained that most sincerely wanted to be married.

“Sure, they want to protect their future,” she said. “But they are also lonely and up to now haven’t found the right mate.”

Wong’s clients begin the trip to the altar by filling out a form giving information about themselves and a description of their ideal mate.

Wong uses a computer to match clients with similar traits and ideals, then issues each a photo of their would-be soul mate.

It’s a simple process but it also can get expensive.

According to the company’s application form, for local Chinese, the service costs about $40 per appointment, $5 for every two pictures examined and $40 for each introduction to a prospective mate. The fee is double for local non-Chinese and overseas customers.

The application also stipulates that people who meet through the service must pay a matchmaking fee of about $500 if they “get married or otherwise co-habitate.”

But some think that the investment is well worth it.

“I’ve used the service for about six months and am happy with the results so far,” said a Chinese woman who in a telephone interview described herself as “24, pleasant and quite attractive.”

“I want to marry a man, Chinese or otherwise, with a foreign passport but not only because of 1997,” she said. “I think it would be good for me get the experience of living in a foreign country too.”

She said she was looking for a gentle, good-looking man with a stable income and had been introduced through the service to a Briton and an Australian, both residing in Hong Kong.

“They were very nice in the pictures, but not so nice in person,” she said.