In the gray, dilapidated apartment blocks of Huangbeiling village, the boom of this Chinese boomtown has given way to silent despair.
Money from across the border in Hong Kong is not flowing as freely as before into the hands of the many Chinese women kept as mistresses by Hong Kong men in this and several other so-called er nai cun, or second-wives' villages.
"My friends used to cross the border three to four times a week, but now they may only go once a week," says 47-year-old Hong Kong native Cheung Hung, who once kept two mistresses himself but now says he visits prostitutes instead. "Now, many have taken pay cuts and they don't spend as lavishly as before."
Capitalist Hong Kong's affluence has long been a magnet for women from poor provinces in central and western China.
Many of them settled in the melting pot of Shenzhen, where nearly half the 7 million residents are migrants. Prevented by immigration restrictions from crossing the border, the women hooked up with richer Hong Kong men living less than an hour away by commuter train.
There are no official statistics on the number of "second wives," but thousands of Hong Kong philanderers -- from truck drivers to company bosses -- sought out attractive, available mainland women in the myriad nightclubs, karaoke bars, massage parlors and other trysting spots that have sprung up across the city.
For several thousand Hong Kong dollars a month, these men kept concubines, reviving an ancient Chinese tradition that is no longer legal in modern China. The mistresses lead easy and extravagant lives by local standards, passing the time between trysts by playing mahjong, eating out and shopping.
With Hong Kong's economy in the doldrums and unemployment at a record high 7.4 percent, the tides have turned. Many men now make only occasional visits to their mainland lovers. Keener competition between women scrambling for customers means Hong Kong's Casanovas can get away with spending about half what they used to, says Cheung, who runs a janitorial service.
From the point of view of one former mistress, Hong Kong men have become "smarter" and refuse to be tied down these days.
"We have a saying which goes, `If you want to drink milk, you don't necessarily have to keep a cow,'" says the woman, a native of Sichuan Province, who would give only her surname, Yang. She now works as a tour guide.
Few of the "second wives" are as lucky as a friend of Yang's whose Hong Kong lover gave her HK$2 million when they split. To get by, many cash-strapped mistresses go back to work as nightclub hostesses or juggle several patrons at one time to earn extra income.
Because of the stigma associated with concubinage, they may have little choice. Mistresses are generally viewed as femmes fatales and home wreckers. Most of the women approached refuse to even speak with a visiting reporter.
Some do return to their native villages, rejoining sweethearts who are often unaware of the women's liaisons. Others take children fathered by Hong Kong lovers back home to get residency documents before returning to Shenzhen. To "legitimize" the children, they sometimes use documents forged to show they are married or they register their children under a married relative's name.
In keeping with tradition, some Hong Kong men do try to maintain homes for more than one partner, particularly if children are involved. Inevitably, there is anguish on both sides, says social worker Paulina Kwok, whose family crisis support center handles about 100 cases a month involving extramarital affairs.
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