NEW YORK -- The curtain will descend on no less than 16 Broadway shows by the end of February as New York's theater district looks to China to help ride out a growing recession.

Just this weekend performers in nine shows took their final bows.

Two of them -- Tony Award-winning musical "Hairspray" and "Grease" -- closed for financial reasons, Erica Ryan, a spokeswoman for the Broadway League said.

The league, which represents theaters along the Great White Way, insisted the overall situation was healthy and that 20 shows are due to open for the 2008-2009 season.

"A significant number of shows closing this month are limited runs and were always scheduled to close on the dates they are closing," said Charlotte St Martin, executive director of the league.

"The other shows that are closing are, for the most part, closing after long successful runs and are finishing the natural cycle," she said.

New York newspapers said Broadway was suffering the same punishment as almost every other sector of the US economy.

Tickets to Broadway performances typically cost at least $80 and often far more.

"Broadway is facing hard times as the economic meltdown pinches consumers and fewer tourists visit the city," the Daily News wrote. "This year's slate of closings ranks among the biggest in memory."

One bright spot in this gloomy picture appears to be China.

Producer Bob Nederlander is putting on an all-Chinese kung fu musical drama called "Soul of Shaolin" on Broadway next week, his assistant Diana Glazer said.

Nederlander has also joined a plan to build a theater complex in Beijing by 2012 with the idea of exporting US musicals. He already brought "42nd Street" to China in 2007.

Another New York production company, Broadway Asia Entertainment, plans up to five shows in China, the Daily News reported.