Hong Kong (CNN) -- Cunning wolf? Working class hero? Or bland Beijing loyalist?

C.Y. Leung, the Hong Kong leader whose resignation has become a rallying cry for the protesters that have filled the city's streets this week, was a relative unknown before he took the top job in 2012.

As the son of a policeman who has used the same briefcase since his student days, his supporters said he would improve the lot of ordinary people in a city that has one of the world's widest wealth gaps.

"He wanted to present himself as someone from the grassroots, not linked to the tycoons... but people have been terribly disappointed," says Joseph Cheng, a professor of political science at City University of Hong Kong.

Groups of protesters gather outside the Hong Kong Government Complex in front of a poster mocking C.Y. Leung, Hong Kong's Chief Executive on September 30.

 

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It's Leung's failure to make progress on the universal suffrage that was promised to the city under the terms of its 1997 handover to China that has rankled Hong Kongers most, bringing tens of thousands of them onto the streets in recent days.

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Beijing lackey?

One of his nicknames is "689" -- a sarcastic reference to the number of votes he obtained from the city's 1,200-strong election committee, a group of people selected from the largely pro-Beijing elite.

And Leung, a former surveyor and real estate consultant, has done little to dispel the prevailing view that he is Beijing's lackey.

A day after being elected as chief executive he paid a visit to the central government liaison office, Beijing's outpost in the city and he was the first leader to make hisinauguration speech in Mandarin -- rather than the Cantonese that is spoken by most people in this former British colony.

"He is in daily communication with Beijing," says Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "C.Y. is a very obedient cadre."

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Despite this, Leung was not in fact Beijing's first choice to become chief executive. The early favorite was Henry Tang, a bumbling former financial secretary best known for his penchant for red wine.

But revelations that Tang's home had an enormous basement which hadn't been approved for planning permission, dubbed an underground palace, derailed his campaign.

However, it was later discovered that Leung's home in the city's exclusive Peak neighborhood also had an illegal structure.

Leung declared ignorance but it undermined trust in the city's new leader from the get-go and helped earn him another nickname -- "wolf."

The moniker sounds similar in Cantonese to his family name but also suggests a cunning political operator.

 

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His approval ratings have plummeted since 2012 and a plush toy wolf made by IKEA sold out across the cityearlier this year as Hong Kongers, eager to use it as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of protest, snapped it up.

A gigantic, enlarged effigy of Leung's head, replete with lupine fangs, has also been a distinctive sight on the streets during the protests.

READ: Hong Kong protests: What's next?

Villain?

For all his colorful nicknames, Harry Harrison, political cartoonist at the South China Morning Post, the city's main English-language newspaper, says Leung is a difficult character to portray.

"C.Y., despite his pantomime villain appearance, hasn't really turned out to be all that cartoonable," he told CNN. "I've hardly featured him in any cartoons for months now."

Those that do usually feature Leung sitting in his office with a picture of malevolent panda -- symbolizing China -- behind him.

The reason, says Harrison, is that Leung is rarely out and about and has little public presence, coming across as aloof.

READ: Symbols of Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution'

His unease with ordinary members of the public has been on display this week.

Leung has only appeared in public three times; twice for press conferences and once for a National Day flag-raising ceremony attended by dignitaries.

Protest leaders have repeatedly called for him to go and refuse to negotiate with him, preferring a meeting with his number two -- Carrie Lam.

While Leung says he will not resign, many observers feel his days are numbered, with protesters setting up a makeshift tomb at the protest site.

"Beijing would ... lose face if they were to sack Leung in the near future," says Lam at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

But "it's a foregone conclusion that C.Y. Leung has to go because he is a very divisive and very unpopular figure."

梁振英：香港沒人愛的領導者
由凱蒂·亨特，美國有線電視新聞網
2014年10月3日 - 更新1144 GMT（1944 HKT）
香港四面楚歌的領導人，行政長官梁振英，說在新聞發布會上。
香港四面楚歌的領導人，行政長官梁振英，說在新聞發布會上。
新聞提要
梁振英是相對陌生的考慮香港的最高職位在2012年之前，
行政長官描繪自己作為人的人，但不不得人心
許多在城裡相信他是北京的走狗
示威者領導人要求他辭職 - 需求尚未引起注意
香港（CNN） -狡猾的狼？工人階級英雄？或平淡無奇北京勤王？
梁振英，香港的領袖，他的辭職已經成為一個戰鬥口號，本週已經填補了城市的街道上示威，是一個相對未知之前，他把最高職位於2012年。
至於誰曾是警察的兒子，因為他的學生時代用同樣的公文包，他的支持者說，他將提高很多普通人在擁有世界上最寬的貧富差距一個城市。
“他希望把自己打扮成一個人從基層，不聯繫的富豪......但人們已經非常失望，”鄭元暢，政治學香港城市大學的教授說。
抗議者組海報9月30日嘲諷梁振英，香港\的行政長官的前香港政府總部大樓外聚集。
抗議者組海報9月30日嘲諷梁振英，香港行政長官前的香港政府總部大樓外聚集。
香港示威者阻止救護車 香港政府大讓步 中國將聽取示威者？
這是梁未能作出允諾，以城下其1997年回歸中國的條款已經激怒香港人最，使成千上萬的人走上街頭，最近幾天的普選進程。
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北京馬屁精？
他的一個綽號是“689” - 諷刺引用他從城市的1200人的選舉委員會，有一群人在很大程度上是親北京的精英們選擇的得票數量。
和梁，前測量師，房地產顧問，已採取什麼行動來消除普遍的看法，他是北京的走狗。
當選為行政長官，他付出了一天後，前往中央駐港聯絡辦公室，北京的前哨城市，他是第一個領導者，使他的就職演說的普通話 -而不是由多數人在講廣東話這個前英國殖民地。
“他在北京的日常溝通，”林和立在香港的中國大學的兼職教授。“CY是一個很聽話的幹部。”
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儘管如此，梁實際上不是北京的首選之地成為首席執行官。早期最喜歡的是唐英年一個裝模作樣的前財政司司長最出名的是他的嗜好紅酒。
但爆料唐的家裡有一個巨大的地下室裡​​所未曾批准規​​劃許可，被稱為地下宮殿，出軌他的競選。
但是，後來發現是亮的家在城市的獨家山頂附近也有一個違章建築。
梁宣無知，但它破壞了城市的新領導人的信任，從一開始走，並幫助他贏得另一個綽號 - “狼來了”
綽號聽起來粵語家人的名字相似，但也提出了一個狡猾的政治操作。
什麼是解放軍在香港的角色？ 香港抗議讓人聯想到89年 定義的勝利在香港抗議
他的支持率自2012年暴跌，毛絨玩具狼宜家做售罄整個城市在今年早些時候為香港人，急於把它作為一個舌頭在臉頰象徵抗議，搶購起來。
梁的頭，充滿了羽扇豆獠牙的巨大的，擴大的肖像，也抗議期間一直在街上一個獨特的景象。
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小人？
對於他所有的豐富多彩的綽號，哈里·哈里森，在南中國Morning Post政治漫畫家，城市的主要英文報紙，說梁是一個困難的性格刻畫。
“CY，儘管他的啞劇小人模樣，還沒有真正被證明是所有cartoonable，”他告訴美國有線電視新聞網。“我幾乎沒有功能了他在任的漫畫了好幾個月了。”
那些做通常擁有亮坐在他的辦公室與邪惡熊貓的圖片 - 象徵著中國 - 在他身後。
究其原因，哈里森說，是梁很少外出活動，並有小公共的存在，因為整個孤傲的到來。
閱讀：香港的“傘革命”的符號
他的不安與普通市民，本週已經上顯示。
梁才出現在公眾的三倍; 兩次新聞發布會和一次政要出席國慶升旗儀式。
抗議領袖一再呼籲他去，並拒絕與他談判，寧願與他的二號會議 - 林鄭月娥。
雖然梁先生說，他不會辭職，許多觀察家認為他的日子已經屈指可數，有示威者設置在抗議現場臨時搭建的墳墓。
“北京將......丟臉，如果他們解僱梁在不久的將來，”林在香港的中國大學。
但是，“這是一個定局梁振英已去，因為他是一個很分裂，很不受歡迎的人物。”