HONG KONG (Reuters) - When Carrie Lam was selected for Hong Kong's top job two years ago, she pledged to "unite and move forward", a sign she would balance the desires of the city's free-wheeling citizens against the demand for control from the Communist Party in Beijing.

But as with all of Hong Kong's leaders who took office after the former British colony reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, Lam has struggled to match her rhetoric with reality. She is clinging on to her job after mass protests in the financial hub in the past week against a controversial bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial.