Having their say in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's trade and investment preeminence has tended to obscure the territory's potential influence on the mainland's political evolution. Hong Kong accounts for 60% of China's foreign direct investment inflows, is China's second-largest trading partner, and is home to hundreds of foreign companies' regional headquarters. The May elections for the Special Administrative Region's Legislative Council highlighted, for the mainland and the world, Hong Kong's system of constitutional order and its vigorous civil society. The surprisingly strong showing by an electorate long considered apathetic could have lasting implications for the PRC's greater China gambit. If Hong Kong can successfully negotiate the shoals of structural change, the winds of populism, and economic typhoons, it will set a powerful example for Beijing's implementation of political reforms.