Hong Kong's New Culture

For Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, last week's annual Policy Address should have been an opportunity to brag. The economy has revived after seven lean years and the scary days of SARS. Millions of mainland tourists are streaming across the border. And prices for property, the economy's lifeblood, have zoomed up by more than 30% in the last year. Yet last week, Tung stood at the rostrum of the Legislative Council looking like he'd rather be in the dentist's chair. "We fell short of thinking what people think and addressing people's pressing needs," he confessed, describing the failures of his...