Asian Values

It was a very Hong Kong occasion. The weather was stifling, the air pollution was awful, and the crowdcarrying digital cameras and mobile phones, without which no self-respecting Hong Kong person is properly dressedwas polite and well mannered almost to a fault. But proud, too. "This is monumental," said an old man who came up to me outside the government offices. "There's nowhere else in the world that could have a parade like this, so peaceably."

He may be right. A crowd variously estimated to number 200,000 (by the police) or more than 500,000 (by the organizers)...