Morrison Hall: A Library Bequest, A Closure, And A Rebirth A Century Later

Morrison Hall was founded in 1913 on Hatton Road by the London Missionary Society^※, one of the earliest men's residences at HKU. It closed in 1968, was revived through spontaneous fundraising by alumni, and was reborn in 2005 in the Jockey Club Student Village II. This article belongs to the 00–12 Reference Zone (factual); names are recorded as documented, without reliability badges.

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# 1. Essential Facts

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# 2. How a Collection of Books Gave a Hall Its Name

The name Morrison Hall is not a simple honorific; it was earned by a concrete gift of books. According to official HKU history^※, the hall commemorates Dr Robert Morrison (1782–1834), an early Scottish missionary of the London Missionary Society sent to China, and the first person to translate the entire Bible into Chinese.

As collated by the Chinese Wikipedia^※, Morrison's personal library was transferred to HKU through the London Missionary Society — the collection later entered the University Library's Rare Books section, and HKU named the newly built men's residence "Morrison Hall" in recognition of this bibliographic bond. Among HKU's halls, Morrison Hall's naming origin is distinctive: it came about not because of a large construction donation (unlike Lady Ho Tung Hall or Ricci Hall), but because of a gift of knowledge that had crossed nearly a century.

The naming process itself is precisely recorded: the London Missionary Society formally proposed the name "Morrison Hall" to the University in April 1916, and the HKU Council resolved on 19 May of the same year to adopt "Morrison Hall" as the permanent name for this "recent and valued asset" belonging to the Society^※. In other words, the hostel building had been operating since 1913, but the official name came three years later — during which time it likely operated under an informal name such as "the London Missionary Society Hostel", until the Council's written resolution made "Morrison Hall" the legal university name. This also explains why some early records list Morrison Hall with a dual date: "founded 1913, named 1916." HKU's official history further characterises Morrison Hall as "a Christian hostel for Chinese students"^※, a positioning that echoes Morrison's own life work of using religion to bridge China and the West.

The London Missionary Society itself has deep roots at HKU — the predecessor of St. John's College, "St. John's Hall," was also founded in 1912 by a mission body within the Anglican tradition^※, almost contemporary with Morrison Hall. Together they formed HKU's earliest generation of church-affiliated student residences.

Morrison's own connection to the region runs even deeper: he spent his early missionary years in and around Macau and Guangzhou, and in 1818 co-founded the Anglo-Chinese College (英華書院) in Malacca with fellow LMS missionary William Milne^※, with a mission statement of "reciprocal cultivation of English and Chinese, linking East and West through learning" — a lineage of purpose that would later run through Morrison Hall's own stated ethos. In 1843, the LMS relocated the Anglo-Chinese College to Hong Kong^※, reorienting it toward training preachers; that school survives today as Ying Wa College in Kowloon, one of the oldest schools in Hong Kong. Morrison Hall is not, therefore, the LMS's only mark on Hong Kong's educational history — it is the HKU-campus extension of a church-schooling lineage that began in Malacca in 1818 and has threaded through Hong Kong's entire post-Opium-War history.

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# 3. Early Years: From a Single Student to a Hall Ethos (1913–1940)

Morrison Hall was built on Hatton Road; construction began in August 1912 but was delayed, and the hall formally opened in 1913^※. According to the HKU Archives, Morrison Hall was the third purpose-built men's residence in the University's history^※, after University Hall and St. John's Hall. In its first term, it housed exactly one student^※; by New Year's Day of the following year, the number had risen to 21, and official records for 1914 show 22 residents. The original design capacity was 50, but that figure was only reached after the 1928 completion of the East Wing extension.

The first Warden was the Rev. Herbert Richmond Wells (born 1863 in Geelong, Australia)^※, a fluent Cantonese speaker who published several Cantonese language textbooks in the 1930s — one of the LMS China field's senior sinologist-missionaries. From 1928 onward the warden was Mr. Stanley V. Boxer (tenure 1928–1941)^※, who saw Morrison Hall through the East Wing expansion and the entire interwar peace before the Japanese invasion.

Early Morrison Hall was distinguished by team spirit and sporting prowess — the official university history says its residents were "known for their excellent team spirit and sports activities"^※, a reputation later seized upon by generations of alumni as the origin of the "Morrisonian Spirit," and the historical capital that the rebuilding committee would repeatedly invoke decades later when appealing for donations. From 1 resident in 1913 to 21 in 1914, and eventually filling all 50 beds after the 1928 extension: this early occupancy curve tells its own story — that Morrison Hall did not burst onto the scene as a popular residence from the University's founding moment, but built its standing gradually, over a decade, through word-of-mouth and group activity. That, indeed, is the practical soil in which the so-called "Morrisonian Spirit" grew; it is not an honorific retrofitted from thin air.

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# 4. War and Closure: Wartime Requisition, Postwar Restoration, and the End in 1968

Morrison Hall's fortunes changed abruptly during the Second World War. During the Japanese attack and occupation of Hong Kong in 1941, British forces requisitioned Morrison Hall for use as barracks^※. Warden Boxer made his final inspection of the premises on 24 December 1941 — the eve of Hong Kong's surrender — and found the building had already been looted to some extent; three days later, when he returned, the damage was considerably worse^※. By the end of January 1942, every movable item had been stripped from the hall^※.

After the war, Morrison Hall reopened in September 1948, restoring accommodation for around 55 students^※. The official reopening ceremony was held on 9 December of that year, presided over by the then Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Alexander Grantham (in office 1947–1958)^※ — that a church-affiliated student hostel could secure the sitting Governor to officiate its reopening says much about Morrison Hall's standing in postwar Hong Kong education. HKU formally took over the hall's administration in 1966, but just two years later — on 31 December 1968 — Morrison Hall was officially closed. The last residents moved out in early 1969^※. The building was subsequently operated by the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China as a youth leadership training centre called "Morrison House"; the last known recorded activity there was in February 1978. By about 1981 it had been decommissioned and demolished, and the site was later redeveloped into a private residential estate, Wisdom Court (頌賢花園)^※. From its founding in 1913 to its closure in 1968, the first-generation Morrison Hall had a physical lifespan of just 55 years; after that, there was no student residence bearing the name "Morrison" on that site. The name survived only in the memories and reunions of alumni.

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# 5. The Alumni Reconstruction Movement: From a 1997 Dinner to a Topping-Out in 2005

The rebirth of Morrison Hall is a rare case in HKU residential history: a bottom-up alumni initiative, to which the University subsequently lent support.

According to official university history^※, on 16 January 1997 — the 80th anniversary of Morrison Hall's founding — a group of alumni held a dinner at the Vice-Chancellor's residence. Over 50 people attended, and this gathering is regarded as the starting-point of the "Morrison Hall Reconstruction Movement."^※ The dinner saw the proposal to rebuild Morrison Hall and the formation of a fundraising committee. HKU's 13th Vice-Chancellor, Professor Y. C. Cheng (who had graduated BSc from Morrison Hall in 1963), was a major force behind the movement, stressing the value of hall education and fellowship^※, and that same year he organised the first "Morrisonians" reunion dinner. The second reunion dinner was held in 1998 in Loke Yew Hall at HKU, featuring performances, an M-Coat (Morrison Hall commemorative jacket) sale, and an auction, co-organised by alumnus P. H. Mak^※.

On the fundraising front, P. H. Mak (BA 1967) was the first to pledge HK$10 million, covering half of the initial HK$20 million target^※. Another alumnus, Dr Dexter Hung-Cho Man (BSc Eng 1940, 1916–2010), also pledged HK$10 million^※. Man himself epitomises a lifetime of giving to HKU and Morrison Hall — he was a practising architect and contractor, responsible for designing and building over thirty high-rise buildings in the Sai Ying Pun area, while also running a lantern factory; in his spare time he was an active racehorse owner and served as manager of the HKU Alumni Association Jockey Club Syndicate^※. He became President of the HKU Alumni Association as early as 1973, chaired its International Liaison Committee from 1988 to 1992, received an Honorary University Fellowship from HKU in 1995, and an Honorary Doctorate of Social Sciences at the 155th Congregation in 1998^※. In addition to the HK$10 million pledged in 1996 for the Morrison Hall rebuild, he had made a one-off donation of HK$20 million to the HKU Research and Development Fund in 1995, and in 1973 had donated HK$300,000 to help the Alumni Association purchase its own premises^※ — multiple donations across three decades, of which the Morrison Hall rebuild sum was only one, though it was the one that put his surname on the building. The entire "Reconstruction of Morrison Hall" project was formally launched on 27 June 2001 (a site originally selected on University Drive was later replanned opposite Lady Ho Tung Hall and near the Flora Ho Sports Centre after geotechnical issues arose; the final location was confirmed in 2003). Total cost was approximately HK$100 million; the ground-breaking ceremony took place on 22 February 2003, the topping-out on 12 March 2005, and the hall opened in August 2005^※. To sustain the hall's traditions, the Morrison Hall Alumni Association (MHAA) was established in 2000^※, five years before the new hall opened, thus preserving the alumni network in the interim. Dr Laurence Hou Lee Tsun, an HKU Honorary University Fellow, was a member of the 1997 campaign's steering committee; his support for HKU spans more than half a century^※.

The new hall's building is named Dexter H C Man Tower, after the other major donor. It is one of three residential towers in the HKU Jockey Club Student Village II; the other two are Lee Shau Kee Hall and Suen Chi Sun Hall^※. Each of the three towers bears the surname of its principal donor, but the internal hall operations — Morrison Hall, Lee Shau Kee Hall, Suen Chi Sun Hall — each maintain their own hall name and distinct history. Morrison Hall did not change its name upon moving into the new building; what persists is the hall-name identity stretching back to 1913, not the building's name.

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# 6. The New Hall: 300 Beds in the Jockey Club Student Village II

The present-day Morrison Hall is located at 109 Pok Fu Lam Road, within HKU's Jockey Club Student Village II, adjacent to the Flora Ho Sports Centre. It provides 300 mixed-gender places, split roughly half-and-half between undergraduates and postgraduates^※. This undergraduate–postgraduate mix differs from most of HKU's traditional undergraduate-dominated halls (such as Ricci Hall or Lady Ho Tung Hall), reflecting the newer residential village's design emphasis on cross-level integration.

The Jockey Club Student Village II was fully funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The grand opening ceremony took place on 2 May 2006, officiated by the then Jockey Club Chairman Ronald Arculli, with HKU Vice-Chancellor Professor Lap-Chee Tsui in attendance^※ — nearly a full year after the hall's actual occupation in August 2005. The village accommodates approximately 900 local and international students from 23 countries^※; HKU explicitly stated that one aim of the development was "to create a multi-cultural atmosphere within the campus," enabling local and international students to learn collaboration through jointly organised activities. The Charities Trust had previously funded Jockey Club Student Village I, which opened in 2002, and had supported over 50 HKU projects since 1957^※; Morrison Hall's rebirth is thus part of a long-running Jockey Club–HKU partnership. In the first year of occupancy, village students spontaneously organised the inaugural "HKU Jockey Club Student Village Walkathon," raising about HK$40,000 for St. James' Settlement Community Development Services, with the intention of making it an annual tradition^※. The timing of this fundraising tradition's launch rhymes, fittingly, with the eight-year fundraising journey Morrison Hall alumni had just completed to rebuild their own hall.

The other two residential units sharing Jockey Club Student Village II — Lee Shau Kee Hall and Suen Chi Sun Hall — each have their own independent histories, constitutions, and hall committees. The three halls share the village's canteen, multi-purpose rooms, and outdoor spaces, but orientation, sports leagues, and Hall Festivals are all held separately under each hall's name. Hall identity has not been diluted by co-location.

On facilities: the ground floor houses the "Lee King Fun Main Hall" (李景勳廳) — a multi-purpose gathering space named after an alumnus, equipped with a piano and table-tennis table. There is also a hall-team practice room ("M Box") for band instruments and rehearsal; shared pantries on each floor with television, refrigerator, and electric water boiler; and a laundry room on the 15th floor with five washing machines and four dryers, coin- or Octopus-operated^※. Most places are twin rooms, furnished with bed, desk, bookshelf, wardrobe, and air-conditioning; there is also a small number of single rooms^※. The first-floor "Alumni Lounge" (舊生閣) displays photographs and trophies from successive generations, described officially as serving dual functions as a "history room" and an active student space; the same floor also has a meeting room reserved for Hall Committee use. In a sense, this is a physical thread connecting the new hall to the memory of the old.

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# 7. Hall Culture and Activities

The new Morrison Hall carries forward the old hall's traditions of sporting and group emphasis while cultivating a more diverse club ecosystem. It hosts student bands, sports teams, and cultural organisations, and runs regular events such as the Hall Festival and movie nights^※. The Alumni Lounge itself is a statement of hall culture: when a new generation of residents moves in, what they see overhead are the group photographs and trophies of early-twentieth-century "Morrisonians" — the hall's way of making the narrative of "team spirit" physically present.

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# 8. Notable Alumni

The most representative name on Morrison Hall's list of notable alumni is the central driver of its reconstruction: Professor Y. C. Cheng (BSc 1963), the 13th Vice-Chancellor of HKU, remains the rare case in HKU history of an alumnus of the hall who later, as Vice-Chancellor, personally drove its rebuilding^※. Mr. Stephen Hui (BEng 1970) has served as a mentor in the Morrison Hall Mentorship Programme since 2010^※ and is frequently cited by the hall as an example of "alumni giving back." Also, among the hall's alumni is the Venerable Yuen Quing (BA), who after graduation entered Buddhist monastic life and dharma teaching^※ — a path often cited by the hall to illustrate that Morrisonian careers are not confined to business or academia.

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# 9. Administration

Morrison Hall is administered directly by HKU. Accommodation applications are handled centrally through CEDARS (the Centre of Development and Resources for Students). Day-to-day life is managed by a Hall Association and Hall Committee, with ongoing liaison with the Morrison Hall Alumni Association (MHAA), which remains involved in freshers' orientation, mentorship, and scholarship adjudication.

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# 10. Placed in the Context of HKU's Hall System: A Unique Case of "Disappearance and Rebirth"

Setting Morrison Hall within the broader sweep of the HKU residential system, what makes it exceptional is not the date of its foundation — St. John's Hall (1912) and University Hall (earlier) antedate it, making Morrison Hall merely HKU's third men's residence^※. The distinction is that, among HKU's halls, it is the only one to have undergone the full cycle of physical closure, repurposing of its original site, and rebirth under the same name at a different location. Other church-founded halls of the same era, such as St. John's College and Ricci Hall, survived war and relocation without ever truly closing. Morrison Hall, by contrast, vanished for 37 years (1968–2005); during that time its original site changed hands — first to a youth centre, later demolished for the private Wisdom Court estate — until alumni fundraising resurrected the name kilometres away on Pok Fu Lam Road.

This "alumni-network-led rather than university-led" model of rebirth also gives Morrison Hall a special place in HKU's history of residential donations. Most halls (Ricci Hall, St. John's College) were built once by their founding church bodies and have continued in an unbroken line; others (Lady Ho Tung Hall, Simon K Y Lee Hall) were built in a single stroke by a single major donor (see simon-ky-lee-hall.md). Morrison Hall is one of the rare cases where scores of alumni, over the course of eight years (1997–2005), pooled their donations to essentially "buy back" the hall's name. This is the practical bedrock on which the hall's narrative of the "Morrisonian Spirit" rests — it is more than a slogan; it is the actual reason the hall exists at all today.

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