The march was planned to throw cold water on a proposal by the Hong Kong government, headed for a Dec. 21 vote in the Legislative Council, which would slightly broaden the electoral base for the chief executive and for the legislature, currently selected by a mixture of directly and indirectly elected representatives.

Democrats say the proposal does not go far enough. Since Beijing has ruled out direct elections for the next term, they at least want a timetable for the introduction of universal suffrage and a roadmap as to how it will be achieved.

The high turnout at the march, estimated by University of Hong Kong counters at between 80,000 and 98,000 people (though organizers claimed 250,000), showed that the citizens of Hong Kong are fully engaged in this debate and determined to keep up the pressure on both local and state governments to grant their political rights.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang, speaking to the media Sunday evening, said of the demonstrators, "I have heard their voice, I have felt their feelings and I share their pursuit; and the central government perfectly understands their aspirations." He said he was trying to advance the democratic process within the "little scope" available under Beijing's diktats.

The danger for Tsang is that the central authorities may view increasing political activism in Hong Kong as his failure to maintain control. It was popular discontent that led President Hu Jintao and his team to finally remove Tsang's hand-picked predecessor, former Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, last March. Beijing has given Tsang just two years to prove that he can do a better job. If they don't like his performance, they will surely orchestrate his departure from office in 2007.

Feeling this pressure, Tsang took the unusual step of making a televised appeal to the public to support his electoral package three days ahead of the march. The effort backfired, however, with many viewers saying they were unconvinced that the slight changes to the system were the best the government could do.

As if on cue, some of Hong Kong's tycoons, who tend to support the status quo that has served their interests well, also last week voiced their opposition to the march. Property tycoon Gordon Wu said that "mob politics" would engender Beijing's distrust of Hong Kong and hinder democratic progress. Casino magnate Stanley Ho warned that provoking Beijing would not serve Hong Kong's interests, and predicted a turnout of less than 50,000.

And on behalf of Beijing, Deputy Secretary of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, Qiao Xiaoyang, meeting with Hong Kong legislators in the border city of Shenzhen on Friday, said it would be "unrealistic" to attempt to affix a timetable for democracy to the government's reform package.

Donald Tsang appeared dispirited Sunday evening, apparently taking the rejection of his carefully crafted reform package very much to heart. Considered from another point of view, however, Sunday's marchers have strengthened his hand in future dealings with Beijing by making it clear that the people of Hong Kong will not be dissuaded from their democratic aspirations.

So far the city's pro-democracy marches have been peaceful and orderly, reflecting the high level of discipline and self-control of a citizenry well-qualified for self-governance. The fear that democracy would destabilize the city seems totally groundless.

The danger for Beijing, of course, is that if it grants democratic rights to Hong Kong, other Chinese cities will demand the same. But Beijing has handled that situation before with its carefully managed economic reforms, opening up designated cities first on an experimental basis and then gradually expanding the reforms.

Granting full democracy to Hong Kong would give Beijing's leaders the chance to try their hand at managing a free political system and acquire the confidence to introduce political reforms at a more gradual pace in the mainland. Such a move would win high praise from the international community and provide a model to guide domestic reformers.

Rather than worrying about winning a high performance rating from Beijing, perhaps Hong Kong's leaders should be working on honing their persuasive skills to convince central government leaders of the benefits of the early introduction of democracy in Hong Kong.

What makes their job most difficult, however, is the almost total lack of transparency in the central government. Officials, politicians, academics, journalists and even business people in Hong Kong spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to figure out what the real intentions of Chinese officialdom are.

So far, the main concerns of Communist Party officials appear to be to remain in power, maintain political control and sustain economic growth. As long as these are the top priorities, political reform in Hong Kong, and the rest of China, is likely to move forward no faster than Sunday's mid-day marchers, packed shoulder to shoulder, inching their way through Hong Kong's narrow streets.

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