HONG KONG -- Piyachart Utaramart skillfully applies blue eyeshadow and thick mascara to her eyes as she prepares to perform in a cabaret that has become a huge hit with tourists from mainland China.

She dazzles the audience in a bright red evening gown with a jeweled crown, befitting of her Thai transsexual beauty queen status.

The 23-year-old dancer, who had a sex change operation last year, said she's happy to be working in Hong Kong but misses her lover and family.

"I talk to my boyfriend and family on the phone all the time," said Piyachart. Photographs of him are stuck on her dressing mirror.

Apichar Sirichantakul, president of Golden Dome Cabaret Show International, keeps a tight rein on his dancers' lives during their six-month stay in Hong Kong. He forbids them to take drugs, drink, gamble or even venture out alone.

The performers live in a dormitory and their schedules are packed from morning till night. But the salary is several times higher than what they would earn in Thailand, said Apichar. He declined to give figures.

Chan Siu-tung, Golden Dome's executive director, said transsexuals -- known as lady boys -- often have a shortened life span because of the side effects of hormones they constantly take. Many live only into their 50s.

"When they are about 40 years old, they cannot perform anymore because their faces would have changed a lot," Chan said.

Many performers say they are saving money from their show business careers and plan to open small businesses when they cannot take the stage anymore.

"I love to perform for the audience," said Chadchaporn Macharoen, 22, who frequently flicks her long hair and bats her eyes, colored with blue eye shadow and glitter.

But Chadchaporn, who had sex change surgery two years ago, said her main aim in Hong Kong is to earn money because she needs to support her parents and brother who live in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.

"I want to open a beauty and hair salon when I go back to Thailand," she said.

Thanut Waiweerayuth, who is dancing to earn the 200,000 Thai baht (US$5,100; euro4,220) he needs for a sex change operation, said he prefers performing to work he could otherwise find university graduate in information technology.

"I like singing and dancing a lot," said Thanut, 23, who has been taking female hormones since 15. "In Hong Kong, everything is paid for by the company. I can save more money for my sex-change operation."