(Adds trade fears) By Donny Kwok

HONG KONG, Dec 13 (Reuter) - Hong Kong people reacted with shock but little surprise to China's decision on Wednesday to jail dissident Wei Jingshing for 14 years.

Economists expressed concern about the fall-out on trade, especially if the U.S. hardened its trade stance, and ordinary citizens said Wei's fate added to worries about their future after Hong Kong's 1997 transfer to China.

Dozens of pro-democracy activists waving large pictures of Wei demonstrated outside China's representative office in the British colony and even prominent pro-Beijing personalities expressed reservations about the trial and sentencing of the man many consider the keystone of China's dissident movement.

"Is 14 years what he deserves?" said Liu Yiu-Chu, a pro-Beijing lawyer and a Hong Kong advisor to Beijing. "Deep down in my heart...I don't believe it."

Another prominent pro-Beijing figure, Xu Ximin, former publisher of Mirror magazine in Hong Kong, said the exclusion of foreigners from Wei's trial "damaged the image of China's judiciary."

He said China should have produced the evidence it had against Wei in order to show his actions justified the sentence.

The leader of Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy party, Martin Lee, said he was shocked at the severity of the sentence.

"First, though there has been a trial, the proceedings were shrouded in secrecy and we still do not even know the facts of the evidence brought against Mr. Wei," Lee said.

"Second, the Chinese government's handling of this matter will certainly be read as a bad omen for the future of Hong Kong."

Chinese state radio said later on Wednesday that illegal fundraising was the key piece of evidence against Wei. Wei was also found to have published articles in overseas media attacking the Chinese government and calling for the independence of Tibet, the broadcast said.

Relatives said he would appeal.

"He will certainly appeal," one relative told Reuters by telephone, saying that Wei pleaded innocent but did not dispute the evidence presented by the court.

Teenagers Ng Chi-Hung and Peter Mok said they planned to keep their thoughts to themselves after 1997.

"Did the Chinese government get any evidence for his charge? I think that (14 years) was too much," Ng, 17, said.

"If I manage to get into university here in Hong Kong, I definitely won't participate in any student union politics in order to protect myself," said Mok, also 17.

Security guard Chan Wing-kit, 39, and 21-year-old Patrick Pang, who works for a bank, also planned to keep a low profile. "It makes me wary about our freedom after 1997," Chan said.

"I was a bit upset when when I heard the news but it did not surprise me," said Pang. "I am now much more worried about our freedom after 1997. We will have to be more cautious in what we say in future."

The leader of Hong Kong's main pro-business political alliance, which tends to take a non-confrontational stance with China, urged China to treat Wei leniently.

"I think he should be treated on the lenient side. China should release him soon," said Allen Lee, chairman of the pro-business Liberal Party. Traders and economists said they feared China's crackdown on Wei would harden Washington's resolve over the annual renewal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status for China in 1996.

"With the U.S. presidential election getting closer and closer, I expect that domestic politics would affect U.S. foreign trade policies and China would be a rather obvious target for those conservative Congress members," said Dong Tao, an economist with Schroder Securities.

China and the United States are Hong Kong's most important trading partners and the British colony derives considerable revenue as an entrepot for China's trade.

Hong Kong could lose as much as US$10 billion if China loses its trade concessions, accoridng to some estimates.