When Britain agreed to "restore" Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1984, British spokesmen explained that the Communist Chinese were reforming and would allow Hong Kong to continue its dynamic capitalist ways. But the brutal suppression of the Chinese student protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989 made it clear that totalitarian Beijing does not tolerate even potentially rival centers of power. William McGurn examines the background of the 1984 agreement and the current plight of Hong Kong's 5.8 million citizens. Although they hold British passports, the British government has refused to allow most of them in. McGurn urges the United States and other nations to open their doors to those who want to leave Hong Kong, not only as a humanitarian act but to infuse their own societies with talent and dynamism.