(Recasts with details of China coastal evacuation)

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG, Sept 23 (Reuters) - A typhoon churned across the South China Sea towards Hong Kong and the Chinese coast, where more than 17,000 people were evacuated on Tuesday, after killing three people in the northern Philippines.

China's Meteorological Administration also issued an "urgent red alert," its highest warning level, for Typhoon Hagupit.

Guangdong provincial authorities evacuated more than 17,000 people from Yangjiang on the south China coast, where the storm was due to make landfall on Wednesday morning local time, with more than 50,000 ships called back to port, China's official news agency Xinhua reported.

Hagupit will also affect Guangxi and Hainan provinces, authorities said, advising affected areas to close schools and businesses, and people to move to safety.

In Hong Kong, gale-force winds, heavy rain and rough swells buffeted the city after the local meteorological agency raised the No. 8 gale or storm signal as the typhoon skirted westward toward the Chinese coast and the gambling hub of Macau.

The highest signal is 10.

Schools and container ports closed and more than 100 flights and ferry services were disrupted.

Under current guidelines, financial markets and schools in Hong Kong will be closed on Wednesday if signal No. 8 is not lowered before 9.30 a.m. (0130 GMT).

Hagupit, which means "lashing" in Filipino, was estimated to be 210 km (136 miles) southeast of Hong Kong at 1000 GMT.

In the Philippines, the coastguard rescued 21 people from three cargo and fishing vessels that sank in rough waters as Hagupit passed the north coast on Monday. In total, three people were killed and four were missing.

Authorities in the northern province of Benguet said 13 gold miners were trapped when water levels rose after heavy rain.

"We are working on rescue operations and our priority is to suction out the water first," said provincial Governor Nestor Fongwan.

The Philippine National Disaster Coordinating Council said about 120 people had fled their homes in a northern mountain village due to fears of landslide as the weather bureau lowered typhoon alerts.

Taiwan also lifted its land and sea warnings after the typhoon brushed the island's southern tip overnight, causing no injuries or damage, officials said.

Some areas in the northern Philippines remained cut off by floods and landslides and without power and telephone service.

Tropical Storm Watch (http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com/) labelled it a category 3 storm on a scale of five, although it was forecast to weaken to a category 2 storm within 24 hours.

Tropical storms in the region gather intensity from the warm ocean waters and frequently develop into typhoons that hit Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and southern China during a season that lasts from early summer to late autumn. (Reporting by Manny Mogato, Nick Macfie and Ralph Jennings; Editing by Paul Tait)

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