Matrons cluck disapprovingly, husbands with wives try the Who's that? routine, lads in the flush of puberty grin and nudge each other, older brothers nod approvingly, and young girls light up with admiration (depending on whether their mothers are around).

For Chrissie Chau is the face and body on the crest of a new wave of models - the langmo - splashing across Hong Kong. No introductions are necessary.

Now try dropping the name Roy Kwong Kwan-yin. Blank looks all round are likely. And that's how the mastermind of Chrissie's arrival from nowhere in a hot 12 months likes it.

But Kwong is super-tuned to the publicity machine that brings in the dollars. Indeed, he provides a lot of power for the machine because he knows it is a key part of succeeding in show business, a game that is there to be won if you know all the rules - and adjust to your advantage as you play.

So it is that Kwong, 34, has made Chrissie, 10 years his junior, into Hong Kong's sex symbol of the year, buttressing and polishing her popularity and image while watching her rivals sink back into obscurity.

For Kwong, the making of Chrissie is a first high point in show business, which he decided was where he belonged 13 years ago. That was when he quit a career as an interior designer and joined TVB as a production assistant.

He made just HK$8,000 a month - half of what he earned previously - but he was at least being paid something as he learnt the rules.

Next was Emperor Entertainment Group, which Kwong joined in 2000 as a relatively low-ranked promoter. But he was adding to his playbook and rose quickly to become general manager of movie and business development. Kwong left Emperor last year and founded Global Mania Empire Management with four colleagues from EEG - a decision many in the business considered rash and risky.

"But I had already learned how the business operated," he says. "Many in the business cared only about making the accounts look good. They forgot the whole point of the game is to entertain."

Now general manager of Global Mania, Kwong doesn't have a problem with gimmicks as long as they entertain. And criticism from detractors concerned about the straight and narrow when it comes to morality runs like water off a duck's back.

The husband and father of a young daughter asks: "Why should we care about them anyway? After all, people who read entertainment news don't take them seriously. People just want to be entertained. Also, from a showbiz angle, any news is good news."

Kwong accepts that his rivals know some tricks of the trade when it comes to gaining exposure for their models, and that certainly includes pulling stunts with the help of paparazzi. However, he thinks they often come up short when it comes to making incidents fun and memorable for readers of personality- geared magazines and newspapers.

But he's not about to open his playbook when it comes to how he might handle a pitch for publicity. There's just a grin - perhaps revealing in itself - when he is challenged about Chrissie being photographed collapsed on a street, apparently due to exhaustion. That made the cover of a magazine.

Managing models was not Kwong's line until relatively recently. He saw the opportunity following the rise of the first generation of langmo, Janice Man and Angelababy.

"For a long time before then, the stars were all singers and actors," he recalls. "But suddenly these two girls, whose modelling agencies had put no effort into grooming them at all, became big hits. They had fans following them around and enjoyed the popularity of real celebrities. I immediately knew this could work for us."

Three chance meetings with Chrissie convinced Kwong of the potential of the Chiu Chow girl who had arrived in Hong Kong when she was 10 to join her parents and three brothers. Hard to believe today that it was only last autumn when he signed her, though he was already shaping a strategy to have her make a big impact by this summer.

Chrissie had a contract with another agency before Kwong took her on, and he sees her three years there as a sheer waste of earning power. She made some thousands of dollars, but not many. Now it's never less than six figures a month, he says.

"She has the look, the body, the right attitude and mindset. She connects with young people, and she is very real."

The fall of stars like Jill Vidal because of drugs trouble and those unfortunate enough to be caught up in the scandal of the Edison Chen Koon-hei sex photos made Kwong appreciate the problems that come with a celebrity who has a wholesome public image but leads a salacious or indulgent private life. Simply, it does not go down well with the public at large, who see hypocrisy.

"Our job is to cater to the market," Kwong muses. "The media should fulfill the need."

To stay abreast of people's hopes, standards and buying habits, Kwong and his team frequently turn to popular online forums such as discuss.com.hk and hkgolden.com.

And young men - those aged 23 to 37 - have been identified with the very high purchasing power for the sort of products that Kwong can deliver.

For instance, about 8,000 bolsters bearing a life-size image of Chrissie in an outfit that leaves little to the imagination have been sold, raking in around HK$4.8 million.

Kwong and his group are brainstorming for similar hot items. Among health and beauty items being considered, a Chrissie toothbrush could soon be in your bathroom.

There's also the reality that Chrissie is a girl of today. Sure, she might go on to finer - some might say better - things, but the clock is ticking.

While langmo such as Kama Law, Yumi Wan or Melody Chan may no longer be eye-turners, Kwong says he intends to maintain the Chrissie brand. So he's looking for people who can fill new openings, including taking a piece of the Japanese market.

On his to-do list are finding two cool working mothers in their mid-twenties and a male model.

The male model could be a problem. For Kwong thinks too many guys in Hong Kong are less goal-oriented than girls, lacking the all-or-nothing attitude needed to become a star.

He has met more than 60 young men referred by model agencies. Some are very handsome, he agrees, but not one has shown that special something that means stardom.

Without that spark, not even a maestro like Kwong can work his magic.