One afternoon in late August, a thunderstorm passed over Hong Kong Park, the 20-acre green in the middle of the city’s financial district. Rain drenched the leaves of the camphor and cotton trees, and every boom of thunder sent flocks of screeching white birds out of the canopy and into the air. The birds, a two-dozen strong flock of yellow-crested cockatoos, circled in the sky, their bodies bright white against the glossy black windows of the international bank towers. A few settled on the curved arches of the park’s Edward…
