Top guns: Hong Kong's thriving business in replica weapons that are still classed as 'toys'

Kwong Wah Street in Mong Kok is known to enthusiasts as Cheung Gai - Gun Street in Cantonese. In the warren of side lanes and covered arcades that radiate from the street, stores bear names such as Gun Heaven and Top Gun. Shop windows are crowded with rows of pistols and walls inside are festooned with sniper rifles and sub-machine guns alongside posters of American soldiers and Hong Kong police.

Even on a week day, the stores are full of people of all ages. An older man inspects an American-issue rifle from the second world war; young men take turns feeling the weight of an AK-47. Just ask and shop assistants will cheerfully show you to the back of the shop, where they keep the handheld grenade launchers; one store even offers what looks like an RPG-7, an anti-tank missile launcher.

Beyond the press of shoppers, two young boys, no older than 11, loiter outside a convenience store. One is wearing camouflage pants and at their feet are two block boxes instantly recognisable as rifle cases.

Of course, none of the weapons is real. Every item, from the rifles to rocket launchers, is an airsoft version - replicas that are designed to use electricity or compressed gas to shoot projectiles (usually tiny plastic beads called BBs). Typically used in war games and target practice, they are classified as toys in Hong Kong.

Still, you could be forgiven for mistaking them for the real thing - airsoft manufacturers spare no expense to make their weapons as real as possible. They are made of metal, have the weight of a real gun and look, feel, and work almost exactly like regular firearms. As much as is possible, the airsoft guns even fire like real weapons.

At WGC, one of biggest global suppliers of airsoft gear, showroom manager Brandon Fung says: "People who play with real steel are trying all their best to lower the recoil, but with toy guns we are trying our best to increase the recoil."