The tigers teeter dangerously: twenty years of prosperity made the Pacific Rim a model of political stability. Can 'Asian values' weather hard times, too?(the growing financial crisis in Asia)

AS PACIFIC LEADERS GRAPPLED WITH ASIA'S MARKET meltdown at their economic summit in Vancouver last week, they may have missed the news about the cake crisis in Hong Kong. High strung in the best of times, the city has recently endured attacks on its currency, a stock-market crash and a run on a small Chinese bank. Then last week, out of nowhere, rumors spread that a chain of cake shops was going out of business.