Quotes of the Day

In the days leading up to last week's pro-democracy march in Hong Kong, organizers were worried that one of the proposed slogans, "Return Power to the People," might be too provocative for China's leaders. That was before hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets. Ignoring convection-oven heat and a pollution level at which the elderly and infirm are warned not to go outside, the numbers alone sent a pretty clear, and startling, message to Beijing: Hong Kong has discovered People Power.

Organizers say the July 1 march was as big as the one last year, attracting some 500,000 people. Police put the figure at 200,000, although they admit that could be a low estimate. Either way, no one expected anything near the actual turnout—and the reaction in Hong Kong was swift and amazed. Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, one of the protesters' main punching bags—they distributed inflatable bludgeons imprinted with his caricature—was compelled to praise the march as "harmonious, with a touch of joyousness." The day after the march, a group of pro-democracy legislators asked Tung to request Beijing to reverse its decision in April to nix direct elections for the Chief Executive post and all the seats in the territory's Legislative Council. (Tung simply said he would have a meeting with the legislators to discuss the issue.) David Chu, a lawmaker from the pro-Beijing Progressive Alliance and a delegate to the National People's Congress, says Beijing will "absolutely not" reverse that decision. But its policies toward Hong Kong, Chu says, will have to evolve. "This is a new, permanent situation," remarked Chu. "People want to be involved, they want to participate in the shaping of their future. It will not go backward."

How will Beijing react? Probably slowly. Last week the state-owned news agency Xinhua reported only that "some Hong Kong residents" rallied, and that bus and minibus services were disrupted and which was said to have prompted "complaints from many members of the public." Contacted by TIME, Hong Kong's Transport Department said it hadn't received any; the operators of the three major bus companies said they received a single complaint—and one received "many commendations" from the public.

• Anthony Spaeth
• For the second year in a row, Hong Kongers take to the streets to express their dissatisfaction