From the Heritage Foundation, I'm Michelle Cordero, and this is Heritage Explains.

This week, about 2 million people flooded the streets of Hong Kong to protest a bill that would allow for the arrest and transfer of Hong Kong residents and foreign visitors

to mainland China with very little safeguards.

To give you a better idea of how huge this protest was,

that's about one in every four citizens of Hong Kong marching in the hot subtropical weather.

The time-lapse video footage is incredible.

It's just a sea of people that never ends.

Young people and old people holding signs and walking in protest.

Unfortunately, there was some violence in what was a mostly in protest. Unfortunately, there was some violence

in what was a mostly peaceful protest.

Police were accused of using excessive force

and a man even fell to his death

while trying to hang a sign.

Music sign. So what's so important about this bill that would bring so many people out to protest?

Well, the fear is that citizens of Hong Kong or foreigners, including Americans and Taiwanese,

could be extradited to China merely for political reasons, something that China is notorious for.

That's a big, scary problem for business people, journalists, and political dissidents.

It could also be a huge problem for Hong Kong and mainland China's economy. Did you know that

Hong Kong is actually the freest economy in the world? And this position is partly based on its strong rule of law. Hong Kong has

ranked number one among 180 countries for 25 years in Heritage's annual index of economic freedom.

But their score has been rapidly dwindling.

Today, Ambassador Terry Miller explains how Hong Kong got itself into this position,

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