HKU Terminology, Traditions and Food Culture

This article is part of "A Wild History of HKU · Unofficial History Resource Site for the University of Hong Kong (HKU)",[^1] under the "Miscellany" module. It brings together the University's campus terminology, colloquial nicknames, hall traditions and food culture. Information current as of June 2026; institutional terminology and traditions follow official primary sources, while campus slang — largely transmitted by word of mouth and lacking strong sources — is listed item by item with its source strength and "colloquial" status flagged, neither embellished nor presented as established fact.

This is a mini-dictionary and field guide to "reading the language of campus life at HKU." For the history and evolution of the hall system itself, and for details on individual halls, see ../10-colleges/ (e.g. University Hall, Ricci Hall, St. John's College); for campus architecture and heritage buildings, see ../05-campus/; for a systematic overview of residence and hall life, see ../21-residence-college-life/residence-and-hall-life.md; for the full story of Orientation Camps (O-Camps), see ../22-orientation-ocamp/orientation-camp-complete.md; and for the students' union and student organisations, see ../14-student-movements/unions-and-federation.md. This article offers only a cross-section of terminology, traditions and food.

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# 1. Glossary of institutional terms (strong sources)

# 1.1 Orientation camp tier terminology (the "O" series)

HKU — and indeed every university in Hong Kong — shares a set of orientation-camp terms organised by the level of the organising body. Compiled from the "University Terminology" entry on the Hong Kong Network Encyclopedia^※, the "O" stands for the first letter of Orientation, and refers generically to orientation activities; it is then subdivided by organiser tier: "Big O" is the university-wide camp run by the Students' Union; "Small O" denotes the smaller camps run by individual academic departments; and HKU's distinctive "Hall O" refers to camps organised by individual halls, typically lasting seven to ten days — the first collective activities and network a new resident encounters upon entering a hall.

"上莊 (shang zhuang)" is another term current at every university in Hong Kong, HKU included: "莊" refers to the executive cabinet of a student organisation (the Students' Union, a society, and so on), and "上莊" means taking up a post in that cabinet; members of the same cabinet call each other "莊員" or "莊友." Duties extend beyond day-to-day administration to running orientation camps, society events and external publicity — this whole "shang zhuang culture" is the key to understanding how HKU's Students' Union and its affiliated bodies operate; see ../14-student-movements/unions-and-federation.md for details.

One more phenomenon of HKU hall culture is often mentioned but more contentious in nature — the "senpai system (仙制)." According to a survey by an unofficial education-information website^※, the "senpai system" refers to the hierarchical arrangement in some halls' orientation activities whereby senior residents (colloquially "大仙," roughly "grand senpais") run the show and juniors are expected to follow their instructions. How strictly the system is enforced varies considerably from hall to hall, and it is a background concept frequently invoked in discussions among hall-culture researchers and some alumni about "hall hazing" — specific controversies and the accounts of the parties involved are, by division of labour, covered in the dedicated file ../20-student-power/hall-hazing-and-disputes.md. This article records the term at a neutral lexical level only, without elaborating judgments or retelling specific incidents.

# 1.2 Hall governance role vocabulary (official definitions)

Alongside the student-initiated orientation terminology, HKU halls/colleges also operate under a set of governance roles formally defined by the University; understanding this division of roles is the key to "who actually runs the hall." According to the CEDARS Housing page "Serving in HKU residences"^※, each hall/college maintains the following four tiers of resident posts:

This "Warden → SRT → RT → JRT" hierarchy runs in parallel with the student-initiated "莊" and "senpai" cultures — the former is the University's governance line, the latter the student self-governance line. Keeping the two apart helps clear up a common misconception about who "has the final say" inside a hall.

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# 2. Colloquial names and nicknames (informal, weak sources, strictly flagged)

⚠ Campus folklore, thin sourcing: the nicknames below circulate mainly among students by word of mouth and in online communities, and lack any single official or academically strong definition. Following this site's principle of "weak source → summarise + flag low confidence," they are recorded only in summary, neither embellished nor presented as official. For the linguistic background of "HK colloquial names/nicknames," see related research in the HKU Scholars Hub^※.

• "Pokfulam University": because HKU's main campus occupies a substantial chunk of the Pokfulam area on Hong Kong Island, it is jokingly known in campus slang as "Pokfulam University." It is a geographical fact that the main campus sits on Pokfulam Road / Bonham Road (Pokfulam Road / Bonham Road^※); but "Pokfulam University" as a name is purely colloquial. ⚠ Single-source (the nickname part).
• "坑U / Kong U": a play on the colloquial slurred pronunciation of "Hong Kong U," rendered in writing as "坑U" (Cantonese homophone). A web/verbal joke with no official endorsement. ⚠ Single-source.

Note: this site does not record derogatory, unverified nicknames, or negative nicknames that name living individuals; the entries above are limited to neutral or mildly teasing general names for the University itself, and their colloquial, single-source status has been flagged.

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# 3. Hall traditions (documentary)

According to New College (HKU)'s "Traditions" page^※, common HKU hall traditions include:

• High Table Dinner: inviting guests from academia and business to foster exchange and the sharing of knowledge among students, staff and community leaders.
• Orientation and adaptation programmes: for non-local students, activities such as "Survival Cantonese" combine learning the local language with socialising, helping new arrivals settle in.
• Student-organised activities: sports competitions, cooperative corner shops, social and cultural events, led by residents to "foster a caring and vibrant hall community."

Each hall also has its own distinguishing markers. For instance, per Wikipedia^※, Swire Hall takes orange as its colour and "Unity and Sincerity" as its motto; Ricci Hall^※ was founded by the Jesuits in 1929 in memory of the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, is a men's hall and is known for its sporting culture. See ../10-colleges/ for the details of each hall.

# 3.1 Inter-Hall Games

Inter-Hall Games (also "inter-hall competitions") run throughout the year among HKU halls, and alongside the High Table Dinner form the other major strand of collective identity in hall life. Records on the official Starr Hall website's "Inter-hall" section^※ list the inter-hall events in which halls regularly compete: badminton, the water meet (swimming), the Drama Competition, the Cheering Competition and more, with halls vying for placing year on year. Inter-hall sports are coordinated by the Sports Association of the HKU Students' Union, with venues and coaching support from the Centre for Sports and Exercise. Placings and participation rates in inter-hall competitions often feed heavily into a hall's "hall spirit" narrative — official hall websites habitually cite "Inter-Hall champion" as a proud milestone in their history. For a systematic account of sports teams and the inter-university rivalry, see ../23-athletics-rivalry/athletics-teams-and-events.md.

# 3.2 Hall songs and hall identity

Besides chants, colours and mottos, some halls also have their own Hall Song — a ceremonial text sung collectively at orientation, High Table Dinners and inter-hall events to reinforce a sense of belonging. For example, one hall website lists the full lyrics of the "Hornell Hall Song" and archives video recordings of past performances^※, making it one of that hall's long-standing signature traditions. The Hall Song, together with hall colours, crest and motto, forms a recognisable "cultural symbol package" for each hall to the outside world, and is among the first things new residents encounter and memorise during O-Camp. For a fuller list of hall traditions, see ../22-orientation-ocamp/halls-high-table-and-residence-traditions.md.

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# 4. Food culture: campus canteens and restaurants

Catering outlets across HKU's campus (and its sub-campuses) are coordinated by CEDARS. Per CEDARS' "Catering Outlets" page^※, the main outlets (by campus) are:

# 4.1 Main Campus

• CYM Canteen (self-service canteen), Hong Kong Daily (table-service area)
• cafe 330, Union Restaurant, The Coffee Academics
• 27 Kebab House (Halal Certified), Subway, Kiosk by The Sandwich Club
• Composite Building: OORI HANSIK (Korean), TAI TAI FOODTOPIA, Starbucks Coffee

# 4.2 Centennial Campus

• Gourmet Asia, BIJAS Vegetarian

# 4.3 Sassoon Road Campus (Faculty of Medicine)

• Grove, Sandwich Club Kiosk, Pizza Express Kiosk, Subway
• The 1887 (7th floor, Wilson Wang Building), a Starbucks Coffee kiosk in the Faculty of Medicine Building

Specific brands, locations and opening status vary from year to year; the authoritative list is CEDARS' official list for the current year. This site does not reproduce promotional information such as "discounts and special offers" (subject to constant change and thin sourcing).

# 4.4 Hall dining arrangements: compulsory meal plans

Unlike the scattered campus eateries, some traditional halls/colleges run a compulsory meal plan — board is included in the accommodation fee, and residents cannot opt out of "skipping meals." According to CEDARS Housing's residence-options page for University Hall^※, the hall's fee schedule explicitly lists a "Meal Plan (incl. High Table Dinner)" as an included item, with semester fees starting at around HK$19,000; St. John's College, Ricci Hall and other long-established halls likewise require residents to join the hall's compulsory meal plan, with the exact charges set out in the hall General Office's schedule for the current year. This arrangement is of a piece with the High Table Dinner and communal-dining traditions — eating at the hall is not merely about sustenance but is a daily vehicle for hall collective life and the forging of "hall spirit."

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# 5. Hall admissions and the "hall participation" scoring reform (recent developments)

Hall culture is not static — it is tightly coupled to the University's official re-admission scoring system for continuing residents, and that system has seen substantive reform in recent years. According to a February 2022 Ming Pao report^※, HKU originally required continuing residents to meet a CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) threshold of around 2.0; the University then proposed to reform its re-admission criteria, and from April 2022 weighted CGPA and "hall participation" 50/50. A year later the weighting was recalibrated to roughly one-third each for CGPA, hall participation, and campus or community service. The same report noted that the "Re-admission Panel" reviewing continuing-residence applications was simultaneously restructured, with the University increasing CEDARS representation to make it the single largest bloc on the panel.

The backdrop to this reform is that "hall participation" had long functioned as an implicit hurdle: residents who threw themselves into organising O-Camps, taking up positions in 上莊 cabinets, or competing in inter-hall events found it easier to retain their places, which objectively reinforced internal hall behavioural habits such as the "上莊 culture" and the "senpai system." The reform — raising the weight of academic performance and bringing in campus or community service — was seen by some resident representatives as a corrective to the lopsided emphasis on "hall participation," though others worried it would blunt residents' incentive to engage with hall activities. Resident representatives have run surveys with the Hall Residents' Associations on this question, and the discussion points further to the institutional links between hall participation, O-Camps and the "hall hazing" controversies; the specific dispute threads are covered in ../20-student-power/orientation-and-harassment-handling.md.

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# 6. Cross-references

• History and evolution of the hall system, and individual halls → ../10-colleges/
• Systematic overview of residence and hall life → ../21-residence-college-life/residence-and-hall-life.md
• Full story of Orientation Camps (O-Camps) → ../22-orientation-ocamp/orientation-camp-complete.md
• Campus architecture and heritage sites (Main Building, Loke Yew Hall) → ../05-campus/buildings-landmarks.md
• Sports teams and the inter-university rivalry → ../23-athletics-rivalry/athletics-teams-and-events.md
• Overview of the campus dining system → ../19-canteen-food-safety/dining-system-overview.md
• Student organisations, the Students' Union, 上莊 culture → ../14-student-movements/unions-and-federation.md
• Hall hazing and handling of O-Camp controversies → ../20-student-power/hall-hazing-and-disputes.md

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