Hong Kong is like no other place on earth. It’s a sanctuary on an island, ceded to the British in 1842 and ruled by China since 1997. The city is a frothy blend of these two cultures in what has matured to be one of the most liberal economies and societies in the world. It is an outpost of Western ideas on the flank of communism. Perhaps that’s why it is the only place in China where tens of thousands of people can march for universal suffrage on a Sunday afternoon without fear of reprisal.

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) — Tens of thousands of people marched in Hong Kong in support of faster progress to full democracy, seeking to put pressure on Chief Executive Donald Tsang to make concessions to ensure passage of his constitutional reform proposals now before the city’s legislature.

An estimated 100,000 people joined today’s march, local radio station RTHK said, citing Cheng Kar-foo, a Democratic Party lawmaker. An official police estimate wasn’t immediately available.

The 25 pro-democracy legislators in the Legislative Council called the march in support of their demands that the government provide a definite timetable for universal suffrage and scrap appointed seats on local government councils. None of the 25 have said they will vote for Tsang’s constitutional reform plans.

ééBeijing has to realize that Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city,” Albert Ho, a legislator from the Democratic Party, one of the rally’s organizers, said at a press conference before the march got under way. ééIt needs democracy as a system of the government in order to remain governable.”

Organizers earlier said 50,000 were expected to march, making the rally one of the biggest since the July 2003 protest against proposed anti-subversion legislation that drew 500,000 people and prompted the government to withdraw the bill. Several hundred thousand people marched in July 2004.

Family Groups

Among those who marched from Victoria Park in the popular Causeway Bay shopping district to the Central CBD was the city’s former chief secretary Anson Chan, who resigned from the government in 2001, 18 months before her term expired. Chan yesterday hinted in interviews with local media that she would attend the rally. She didn’t attend the previous marches organized by the pro-democracy group but has expressed support for universal suffrage since her retirement from government.

Many of the marchers wore black t-shirts, as they had been requested to do by organizers. Some carried banners with messages demanding a timetable for universal suffrage, others chanted slogans. Family groups were amongst the crowd who marched the 3 kilometers (1.9 mile). The march began just after 3 p.m. local time and the first marchers arrived at the Central Government Offices at about 5pm. Hundreds of police lined the route but there was no reports of trouble.

Tsang, for his part, has said that the constitutional changes that he’s proposed are the best available and that the pro-democracy politicians are putting the city’s progress toward democracy in jeopardy by insisting on more. He’s refused to discuss the issue of universal suffrage before the legislature approves plans for elections in 2007 and 2008.

Hong King’s unique history has made it distinctly suited for being at the forefront of the battle for human rights and democracy, from British influence on common law traditions to thousands of refugees fleeing the communist mainland in the 1940s. They are Chinese people born and raised in the tradition of openness. They are a beacon for their brothers who were never given the liberties that they are entitled. This march, and others like it, will serve as an example for activists in Beijing and elsewhere who are preparing — even now — to challenge the government and take their rights back.