Alone in the Crowd.(Tung Chee-Hwa's leadership in jeopardy.)

In Hong Kong's central business district, people usually line up at Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo and other luxury retailers to shop for the latest fashions. But recently people have been forming a different kind of queue in this tony neighborhood: hundreds of Hong Kong men, women and children have been peacefully lining up for... protest ribbons. And, just as any of the city's trend-conscious will tell you about the newest fashions, which ribbon you choose to wear does send a message. "It's yellow ribbon for anti-Article 23, red for antigovernment policy, blue for anti-Tung Chee-hwa," explains Yip Chui-ming, a university student who has brought a cardboard box full of ribbons for people to choose from. "Most people are taking all three."

Last week's protest--which drew an estimated 50,000 Hong Kongers--was a follow-up to the 500,000-person march eight days earlier that stunned the leadership in Hong Kong and Beijing alike. On July 1, organizers told participants--many of whom were new to protests--to wear black. Last week white was the dress code. But the grievances were the same: a general frustration and anger with the poor leadership of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. More demonstrations are planned in what has quickly become the biggest political crisis the territory has faced since its political handover to China in 1997. "A lot of people are wondering how we can tolerate another four years of his term," says independent legislator Audrey Eu. And, more ominously, some fear what it will mean for Hong Kong if Beijing steps in to clean up the mess.

These days Tung must feel like the loneliest man in Hong Kong. According to a poll conducted by the University of Hong Kong after the July 1 march, if people could vote for Hong Kong's chief executive, only 13 percent would support Tung. It was due in part to this overwhelming public opinion that James Tien, the pro-business Liberal Party leader and a close personal friend of Tung's, resigned from the Executive Council, the chief executive's circle of most trusted advisers. The most immediate significance of Tien's defection was that Tung no longer had the support he needed to pass the controversial Article 23, the national-security law that protesters claimed would threaten to destroy the territory's civil liberties and that had been the impetus for their taking to the streets.

On July 5 Tung suggested a watered-down version of the bill, which revised sections that would have made groups outlawed on the mainland illegal in Hong Kong, grant police sweeping powers to search personal property and punish the disclosure of "state secrets." But, try as he might, his new proposal did not keep others from distancing themselves from the chief executive as they sought political cover. Tsang Yok- sing, the executive counselor representing the pro-China Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, publicly wondered if he, too, should resign as an adviser. Three Hong Kong deputies to China's National People's Congress called on Tung to step down. For his part James Tien, speaking to a small group of journalists days after his resignation, expressed personal regret that he could not continue to support his friend, but in his view the fault lies with Tung. "A better leader should make decisions fast and more effectively, leaving more time for implementation," says Tien.

To be sure, Hong Kong needs strong leadership more than ever. Hong Kong is now posting a record-high annual budget deficit of $US8 billion, equaling almost 5.5 percent of GDP and one of the highest in Asia. Property is down 70 percent from the top ...