It's a choice he has been most reluctant to make.

Cheung Kam-ming, 44, from Hong Kong, is stranded in Shenzhen, not because he cannot return to his hometown but because his mainland-born son, now eight months old, can't.

For most of the time this year, he has been begging with his son on Shenzhen streets.

Cheung, divorced and a dole recipient from the SAR, was "blessed" with a second spring when he became acquainted with a cosmetics saleslady from Liaoning Province at his friend's birthday party in April last year.

The pair soon began living together and the woman became pregnant. Finally, they got married and on January 2 this year, their son was born. For most of the time, the family lived on the woman's earnings, Cheung being unemployed.

The seeming blessing, however, soon became a curse. In the beginning, Cheung told others his wife abandoned his son after the birth. Having no job, he had to resort to begging to buy food for his son.

At the Shenzhen office of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) yesterday, Cheung admitted he had lied. The truth was that his wife abandoned him because he didn't want her to know he had been begging for the past eight months.

"Her health has never been good since the birth. She had warned me not to go begging or she would leave me. But I had to make a living."

Since then, Cheung has been begging with his son at the street corners of Shenzhen. No sooner after he started his venture on the streets, he fell victim to pickpockets and lost all identification document.

Cheung had never expected his plight to be blown up by the media. Suspecting him of having stolen a baby, one of his neighbours recently reported the suspicion to the local police.

"One day, the police dropped in my place to investigate the case. Convinced that I have come from Hong Kong and am the father, they left us. But before leaving, they said they could help if I wanted to return to Hong Kong," Cheung said.

"Certainly, I'd be most willing to return to Hong Kong," he told China Daily, with tears in his eyes. "But what's going to happen to my son and wife. I couldn't leave them like that."

He declined the assistance. Cheung suspected the same informant turned the case to the local media, as a few reporters went up to him and saw him begging with his son in a dark street corner.

"What do you want now?" China Daily asked him yesterday.

Cheung said he wanted to return home with his family immediately - something the immigration policy of both the mainland and Hong Kong does not allow.

A spokesman for the SAR's Immigration Department said yesterday that once Cheung's residence in Hong Kong was established, it could be arranged for him to return to Hong Kong within days.

But for his son, it will be complicated. First, Cheung must prove his relationship with the child - a condition he's been unable to do for the hospital refused to issue the documentation after the couple failed to settle the bill. Progress was reported on this yesterday, amid assistance by FTU helpers.

Even if the blood tie is established, Cheung has another hurdle to overcome. According to the spokesman, there are three channels for the father to bring his child home legally - applying a two-way permit for his child to go to Hong Kong temporarily, queuing up for a one-way permit for permanent settlement in the SAR or applying to the SAR for a proof of right of abode for the boy.

But it's unlikely that any of the channels can be completed in a matter of days or weeks, according to experience.

Cheung said that he would be most grateful if people in Hong Kong or Shenzhen could give his family donations so that he could leave behind a sum to care for his wife while he and his son are in Hong Kong applying to get her over to the SAR.

A spokesman for the SAR's Social Welfare Department (SWD) said they had appointed the civil organization "International Social Services (Hong Kong)" to look into Cheung's case to judge how local welfare resources could help him and his family best.

An experienced social worker from the organization had already contacted Cheung. The SWD spokesman confirmed Cheung had been a dole recipient.

Yesterday, the situation appeared unchanged. Should he want to return to Hong Kong, he would likely have to leave behind his family - the eight-month-old boy and his wife. It is a choice he seems unprepared to make yet.

(China Daily HK Edition September 30, 2005)