High Table Dinner and “Sheung Jong” — Rituals, Culture, and Controversies of HKU’s Residential Halls

# High Table Dinner and “Sheung Jong” — Rituals, Culture, and Controversies of HKU’s Residential Halls

The one-line conclusion: The University of Hong Kong’s residential hall High Table Dinner tradition originated in 1916 at St. John’s College. “Sheung Jong” refers to the annual election of a student executive committee for each hall. Together, these form the ritualistic and structural backbone of hall self-governance (with the current system in place as of 2026).

Wild History Zone · Module 22 · Deep-dive into the residential hall system. This piece focuses on the two most central “institution-ritual” complexes of HKU’s halls — the ceremonial protocol of the High Table Dinner, and the operational machinery and electoral mechanisms of “sheung jong / jou jong” (serving on a student committee). It draws a clear line between documented traditions and documented controversies. For a comprehensive overview of hall culture (the “senior” system, daily life, and three bullying incidents), see 21 · A Comprehensive Overview of Hall Culture; for university-wide and departmental orientation camps and the 2023 Nursing School indecent assault case, see 22 · A Complete Guide to Orientation Camps; for the general structure of student union committee work and elections at the university level, see 20 · Student Union Structure and Elections. There is no overlapping content between these three pieces. Living individuals are referred to by their role or title; proper nouns (halls, awards, positions) are kept in their original names.

A High Table Dinner, the annual recruitment drive for a new student committee, a “burying the committee” night that doesn’t end until the small hours — most of the “traditions” of HKU’s residential halls are not codified in university statutes but are rituals and conventions passed down by word of mouth from one cohort of residents to the next. At their warmest, they are a first lesson in dining etiquette under green gowns and candlelight, or the camaraderie of committee members pulling an all-nighter to perfect an orientation camp script. But they also have another face, one frequently questioned by outsiders: the pressure exerted through seniority, and inappropriate orientation activities. This piece will not rehash ghost stories and campus folklore. Instead, it will dissect the two most thoroughly documented systems: What exactly is the High Table Dinner ceremony? How is a “jong” (student executive committee) formed, elected, and dissolved? Which elements are tradition, and where do genuine controversies actually occur?

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# What Exactly Is the High Table Dinner? Why Do All HKU Halls Hold One?

The High Table Dinner at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is not an ordinary hall meal. It is a ceremonial tradition inherited directly from the collegiate system of Oxford and Cambridge. According to the official High Table Dinner page of HKU’s Centre of Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS)^※, the dinner is “designed to promote intellectual exchange among the participants,” bringing faculty, guests, and residents together at the same table for a combined function of academic socialising and etiquette training. The official page also notes that for many residents, “this is often the first formal dinner of their entire life,” making the High Table Dinner a signature scene in a hall’s holistic education.

The name “High Table” is not a metaphor. The tradition originates from the British colleges, where a raised platform, or dais, was placed at the end of the dining hall with a long table for the Master and Fellows, who were seated at a higher level than the undergraduates dining below — hence the “High Table.” HKU’s residential halls replicate this spatial politics: the head table is elevated above the residents’ seats. The Warden, tutors, and invited guests sit at the High Table, while residents sit in rows along the long tables below. The seating arrangement for a single meal thus makes the hall’s hierarchy of seniority visible in physical space.

The starting point of this tradition at HKU can be precisely traced to 1916. According to the English Wikipedia entry on University Hall^※, early HKU halls maintained strict discipline, and residents were required to wear green gowns at dinner. University Hall, in its early days, “held High Table Dinner every Monday,” a practice inherited from HKU’s first residential hall, St. John’s College (then St. John’s Hall). St. John’s was the first unit at HKU to implement the High Table Dinner, and other halls subsequently followed suit, spreading the practice from a single hall’s Monday night into a university-wide symbolic ritual.

The ceremony’s sense of occasion comes from a few fixed actions. According to a first-hand account by a Morrison Hall resident, published by the Fund for Education Abroad^※, the dinner is signalled by the sounding of a gong. All rise as the Warden, tutors, and guests process into the hall and take their seats at the High Table. Each High Table Dinner “begins with a speech from the Warden reviewing the hall’s achievements in the year, before formal dining then commences.” The residents’ attire serves as an identity marker — the account mentions that the green suits they wore were called “M coats,” the hall attire of Morrison Hall. Different halls distinguish themselves with gowns or hall-specific clothing of varying colours and styles, making it immediately apparent which hall a person belongs to.

# How Do the High Tables Differ Between Halls?

The High Table Dinner is not a university-wide, uniform template. Each hall has its own practices regarding frequency, attire, and supplementary activities. The following table, compiled from official and first-hand sources, allows for cross-comparison:

According to St. John’s College’s official dining page^※, the College’s High Table Dinner is held every Monday evening at 7:30 pm. Faculty and students wear green gowns in flickering candlelight. After the dinner, an “HT Talks” session is held, inviting alumni and academics to speak. To encourage open dialogue, the identity of the speaker is not publicly disclosed, and recording is prohibited. This “closed-door candid conversation” design extends the High Table from a formal meal into an internal intellectual salon for the hall and is one of the ways St. John’s has sustained the High Table tradition for over a century without it becoming a hollow form.

It is necessary to clarify that there are two tiers of High Table Dinners at HKU. The first comprises those organised by the halls themselves (as listed above). The second is a university-wide High Table experience coordinated by CEDARS under the New Student Orientation programme, allowing freshmen who do not live in halls to encounter this ceremonial setting. The former is part of a hall’s self-governance culture; the latter is an orientation activity led by the university administration. Both share the “High Table” name, but the organisers and the nature of the events are different. This piece focuses on the hall-level High Table.

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# What Exactly Does “Sheung Jong” / “Jou Jong” Involve? How Is a “Jong” Formed?

In the student culture of HKU, and indeed across all Hong Kong’s higher education institutions, a “jong” (Cantonese for an organisation’s executive committee, or “cabinet”) is the most fundamental organisational unit. “Sheung jong” means to run for election and, upon winning, serve as a committee member managing that organisation for the upcoming year. At the hall level, each residential hall has a Hall Students’ Association. Every academic year, all residents elect a new “jong,” responsible for hall welfare, event planning, and external representation. According to an analysis of the “sheung jong” culture by the Hong Kong 01 outlet “Open Jar”^※, “sheung jong” is often cited as one of the “five must-do things at university,” but the price is “burning money, burning time, and burning one’s GPA” — committee members must pay out of pocket or raise funds, invest huge amounts of time, and their academic performance may even suffer as a result.

A “jong” is not a loose collective, but a cabinet with a clear division of labour. The officer positions within HKU student organisations generally follow a common framework. At its core are the three chairpersons, colloquially known as the “3Ps,” along with administrative roles like Secretary and Treasurer, plus additional posts such as Recreation, External Affairs, Publicity, Sports, and Welfare, depending on the hall’s needs. The following table uses a Hall Students’ Association as an example to list the typical cabinet structure and responsibilities:

The substance of committee work is taking full responsibility for a hall’s most significant annual events: organising the High Table Dinners, coordinating the Hall Orientation (Hall-O) camp, arranging inter-hall sports and cultural competitions, and handling residents’ welfare and complaints. Each of these activities requires its own budget, formulated and reported to the Warden and the Hall Association’s General Meeting. Therefore, “sheung jong” is far more than an honorary title; it is a bundled year-long commitment of administrative, financial, and personnel responsibilities. It is precisely for this reason that serving on a hall committee is often considered the most demanding tier of the “sheung jong” culture, and also the one that most effectively builds cross-year personal networks.

From a new student’s perspective, whether or not to “sheung jong” is one of the first major trade-offs to be made after entering Year 1. Running for election means priority access to the Warden, faculty, and a vast alumni network, but also a year of diverting significant energy away from academics and other clubs. Choosing not to join a committee offers more freedom but may be seen as “missing the core part of hall life.” This trade-off of opportunity costs is the most common internal discussion within the halls after every orientation season. Hall committee work is fundamentally the same as “sheung jong” in the Student Union or departmental societies. For the general overview of committee work and elections at the university-wide level, see 20 · Student Union Structure and Elections.

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# How Is the Hall Students’ Association Committee Elected? Recruitment, Confrontation Day, and the Vote of Confidence

The formation of a Hall Students’ Association is not an administrative appointment; it is a core element of resident self-governance, its boundaries of power explicitly defined by university regulations. According to the official HKU page on “Regulations Governing Halls and Flats”^※, each hall must have a Hall Students’ Association, with membership comprising “all members of the Hall, both residential and non-residential”; the association must “elect a Committee from among its members in accordance with its constitution”; and a crucial constraint is: “The Constitution of the Hall association and amendments thereto shall be subject to the approval of the Warden.” According to the same regulations, the Warden is the supreme authority in a hall, empowered to make further rules, impose fines, or even suspend or terminate memberships. Resident self-governance thus operates within a framework authorised by the Warden, not as a completely independent student sovereignty.

Within this framework, a new committee is generally produced through one of two pathways. The first is the Interview system, where the outgoing committee assesses interested candidates. This is a more moderate approach, common in halls with low competition and a desire for a smooth handover. The second is open election / “Ziu Jong” (cabinet recruitment), where interested candidates form their own prospective cabinets and canvass for residents’ support during a “publicity period.” The table below breaks down the typical process of an open election:

The Confrontation Day (“Con Day”) is the most tense part of the entire process. Prospective cabinets publicly state their policy platforms and budgets, facing a barrage of questions from residents and their opponents. It is both a public test of the team’s competence and rapport, and the main occasion for the hall’s residents to get to know the candidates. In halls with only a single prospective cabinet, the final decision often takes the form of a “vote of confidence” — residents cast a vote of confidence or no confidence in the sole candidate group, with the passing threshold varying according to each hall’s constitution.

Neither selection method is inherently superior. The interview system reduces internal competition and facilitates smooth handovers in halls with limited personnel. Open elections can stimulate engagement and enthusiasm but may also create factions within a hall due to differing platforms or personal grievances, sowing the seeds for future disputes. Such controversies related to student organisational governance (elections, recall, committee fees and funding) are a university-wide topic. For details, see 20 · Student Union Structure and Elections and 20 · Hall Bullying and Disputes. This piece will not elaborate on individual cases.

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# What Is “Maai Jong”? The Emotional Conclusion of a Committee’s Term and “Lok Jong”

If “sheung jong” marks the beginning of a committee’s term, then “maai jong” (literally “burying the committee”) and “lok jong” (“stepping down from the committee”) mark its conclusion. “Maai jong” refers to the ritualistic moment when committee duties are formally declared over and its members complete their term of office, usually accompanied by a dinner, recollections, and farewells. “Lok jong” refers specifically to the act of stepping down and handing over to the next committee. For its members, “maai jong” signals the end of a year-long collaborative effort. Having organised High Tables, orientation camps, and inter-hall competitions together under sustained, high-pressure cooperation, committee members often forge deep bonds described as “comrades-in-arms,” making the “maai jong” night a frequently emotional occasion.

The ritual sense of “maai jong” bookends the “Sheung Jong Ceremony” (the swearing-in ceremony for the new committee): one end is the solemnity of receiving the committee seal and making a year-long pledge; the other is the relief of taking stock of gains and losses and saying farewells to each other. Many alumni describe that year as a youthful chapter marked by “reckless devotion, expecting nothing in return.” According to the analysis by Hong Kong 01’s “Open Jar”^※, it is precisely the shared memory of overcoming difficulties that makes “sheung jong” an experience many “miss most when they grow older.” This highly cohesive, small-circle culture is a source of hall belonging. Yet some voices also point out that excessive internal cohesion can sometimes turn into exclusion of outsiders or unreasonable pressure on insiders.

There is a direct transmission chain between “maai jong” culture and hall orientation. Most “group parents” and Hall-O organisers at orientation camps are either the current or outgoing committee members, or senior students heavily involved in committee affairs. Serving as an orientation organiser is itself often seen as a training ground before “sheung jong,” or as part of a serving committee member’s duties. In other words, the senior students freshmen meet during Hall-O are very likely residents who have just gone through a round of “sheung jong” and are in the middle of their committee term. This chain explains both how a hall’s interpersonal network is passed down through generations, and why, when the seniority-based pressure within committee culture spirals out of control, it is the least experienced new students who are most impacted. For more on the “group parents” system and the hierarchy and controversies of university-wide and departmental orientation camps, see 22 · A Complete Guide to Orientation Camps.

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# When No One Steps Up: Broken Committees, Failed Committees, and the Quiet Crisis of Hall Self-Governance

A “jong” is not guaranteed to be successfully formed every year. Student organisational culture has two specific terms for failure to form a committee: “lau jong” (failed committee) refers to a situation where a prospective cabinet fails to pass the election or vote of confidence, or disbands midway; “tyun jong” (broken committee) means not even a complete prospective cabinet could be assembled, leaving the organisation with no successor. For a Hall Students’ Association, a “broken committee” means a year without formal committee members to coordinate High Tables, orientation, and inter-hall competitions. The daily operations of the hall have to be maintained with difficulty by the Warden, tutors, or an ad-hoc temporary committee.

The causes of broken and failed committees are partly structural. “Sheung jong” means “burning money, burning time, and burning one’s GPA.” In an era of increasing academic pressure and employment anxiety, the number of residents willing to devote an entire year to committee work is naturally low. Moreover, since a cabinet often needs to fill seven or eight positions with members who can get along personally, the very act of “gaap jong” (cabinet formation) has a built-in threshold. According to the official regulations cited above, even if residents manage to form a committee, its constitution and operations still require the Warden’s approval. The tension between self-governance and supervision is also a factor that makes some residents hesitate. In recent years, student organisations at many Hong Kong universities have faced difficulties in recruiting for their committees, and hall-based associations are not an isolated case.

It is worth distinguishing that “broken committee / failed committee” is a neutral phenomenon in student organisational governance, different from cases where an individual organisation ceases operation due to external factors. If the latter involves a politically sensitive context, it is beyond the scope of this discussion; such events are noted only for their objective existence without further narrative. For Hall Students’ Associations, a broken committee more often reflects a structural decline in willingness to commit and available personnel, rather than a single triggering event. For issues of election, recall, and organisational continuity across such student bodies, see 20 · Student Union Structure and Elections.

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# How to Distinguish Tradition from Controversy? The High Table Is Ritual; “Maai Jong” Night and Orientation Are Where Controversy Concentrates

There is a clear spectrum within HKU’s hall culture: at one end are the traditional rituals — those with a clear framework, warden involvement, and university recognition. At the other end are the controversial practices — those that occur in informal settings, under the name of “tradition,” and without adult supervision. Grasping this distinction is a prerequisite for neither romanticising nor wholesale stigmatising “hall traditions.”

The High Table Dinner belongs to the former category. It has a fixed ritual protocol (the gong, the address, the green gown, the seating plan), is presided over by the Warden, and has an official page publicly stating its purpose. It is very rarely a source of controversy. The real flashpoints are the seniority-based orientation activities (Hall-O) and certain parts of the “maai jong” and “sheung jong” processes. These mostly take place late at night, in settings with no faculty present, and are legitimised by participants with the phrase “it’s always been this way.” Once senior students (“dai sin”) or organisers lose their sense of proportion, the pressure exerted through seniority can slip into what amounts to bullying. According to an analysis of HKU’s hall culture by a former resident, published by Hong Kong 01 (2017)^※, Hall-O typically lasts 8 to 10 days and features a “Mass Orientation (MO)” interrogation session lasting several hours. The high-pressure atmosphere is designed to “challenge the confidence and independence of freshmen,” and some residents have reported experiencing mental stress as a result.

This piece will not re-narrate documented controversial incidents but will only position them and provide cross-references. Between March and April 2017, two hall-related bullying incidents, both carried out in the name of “tradition,” occurred at HKU in quick succession (one involved a video-recorded act of sexual bullying, the other involved hot wax; the latter concluded with the expulsion of three students from St. John’s College). In September 2022, a resident, intoxicated late at night, harassed mainland Chinese students in their dormitory; the perpetrator was expelled from the hall. The August 2023 indecent assault case at a Nursing School orientation camp, while belonging to a departmental rather than a hall system, is often mentioned in the same breath due to its involvement of a similar “group parent” seniority culture. For complete timelines, multi-party accounts, and court verdicts for these three sets of events, see 21 · A Comprehensive Overview of Hall Culture and 22 · A Complete Guide to Orientation Camps.

In response to years of controversy, HKU has moved in recent years from “case-by-case punishment” to “institutional building.” According to the HKU CEDARS/LEAF orientation regulations^※, the current framework requires orientation organisers to complete an online module on “Preventing Sexual Harassment on Campus.” Each hall’s students’ association must submit a “Hall Orientation Declaration Statement,” and activities must be vetted before being included on an officially recognised list. A real-time reporting channel has also been established. This set of mechanisms attempts to break the very cycle that allows controversies to recur: the combination of an informal setting, the packaging of “tradition,” and a lack of supervision. It can regulate the orientation nights beyond the High Table, but it is difficult to change the culture of seniority through regulatory wording alone. For the year-by-year details of the regulations and the effectiveness of their enforcement, see 22 · A Complete Guide to Orientation Camps.

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# Credibility Summary

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# Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the HKU High Table Dinner? Why must one wear a gown? A: The High Table Dinner is a ceremonial tradition inherited from the Oxbridge collegiate system by HKU’s residential halls, first established in 1916 by St. John’s College. According to CEDARS, its purpose is to promote intellectual exchange among participants, allowing faculty and students to dine together and practise formal etiquette. “High Table” refers to the long table on a raised dais at the end of the dining hall, where the Warden, tutors, and invited guests sit. Residents are required to wear green gowns or their own hall’s attire (such as Morrison Hall’s “M coat”), distinguishing them by colour according to their hall affiliation and symbolising their undergraduate status.

Q: What do “sheung jong” and “maai jong” mean? A: “Sheung jong” refers to running for and holding office as a member of a student organisation’s (e.g., a Hall Students’ Association) executive committee, with a term usually lasting one academic year. A “jong” is a cabinet with a clear division of labour, its core being the three chairpersons colloquially known as the “3Ps,” plus roles like Secretary, Treasurer, Recreation, and External Affairs, responsible for High Tables, orientation camps, inter-hall competitions, and residents’ welfare. “Maai jong” refers to the ritualistic conclusion of a committee’s term, often accompanied by a dinner and farewells. “Lok jong” refers to the act of stepping down and handing over.

Q: How is a Hall Students’ Association committee elected? Can the Warden intervene? A: There are generally two paths: the Interview system (vetting by the outgoing committee) and open election (“ziu jong”). An open election proceeds through cabinet formation, candidate registration, a publicity period, a Confrontation Day (Con Day), and a final hall-wide vote of confidence. According to HKU’s Regulations Governing Halls and Flats, a Hall Students’ Association’s constitution and any amendments are subject to the Warden’s approval. The Warden is the hall’s supreme authority, empowered to make further rules and even suspend memberships. Resident self-governance therefore operates within a framework authorised by the Warden.

Q: What are “tyun jong” and “lau jong”? A: “Lau jong” (failed committee) refers to a situation where a prospective cabinet fails its election or vote of confidence, or disbands before completing its term. “Tyun jong” (broken committee) means a complete prospective cabinet could not even be assembled, leaving the organisation with no successor. For a Hall Students’ Association, a “broken committee” means a full year without a formal committee to coordinate High Tables and orientation, forcing the hall to rely on the Warden or a temporary committee. The causes are mostly structural, such as the high personal cost of “sheung jong” and a decline in available personnel and willingness to serve.

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# Sources

• About High Table · HKU CEDARS — Official (purpose and nature of High Table Dinner, first dinner experience)
• Regulations Governing Halls and Flats · HKU Calendar — Official (Hall Students’ Association election, constitution subject to Warden’s approval, Warden’s authority)
• Dining · St. John’s College, HKU — Official (St. John’s Monday High Table, green gowns and candlelight, HT Talks)
• Orientation Regulations · LEAF / CEDARS HKU — Official (orientation regulations, Hall Orientation Declaration Statement, reporting channels)
• High Table Dinner: a HKU tradition · Fund for Education Abroad — Secondary (gong and speech, Morrison Hall M coat, approx. 3 times per semester)
• University Hall, University of Hong Kong · Wikipedia — Secondary (Monday High Table, green gowns, annual election of the hall association, war cry, Warden as supreme authority)
• Is ‘Sheung Jong’ One of the ‘5 Must-Do Things at University’? · HK01 ‘Open Jar’ — Secondary (the meaning of “sheung jong” and its cost of “burning money, time, and GPA”)
• A Former Resident Talks in Detail About HKU’s Hall Culture · HK01 (2017) — Secondary (Hall-O, MO, the high-pressure atmosphere of the “senior” system)

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Last updated: 2026-07-10 · This is a newly written, dedicated piece for Module 22, focusing on the High Table Dinner ritual protocol and the “sheung jong / maai jong” committee system. Its content is complementary to, and does not overlap with, the case narratives in Module 21 “A Comprehensive Overview of Hall Culture,” Module 20 “Student Union Structure and Elections,” and this module’s “Complete Guide to Orientation Camps.” High Table data has been cross-checked against CEDARS, the official St. John’s College page, and first-hand accounts. Hall association elections and the Warden’s authority are based on HKU’s official Regulations Governing Halls and Flats. The “sheung jong / maai jong” culture is based on secondary media such as Hong Kong 01, with clarifications that accounts are personal narratives from students. Unverified folklore about “maai jong” rituals is siloed via a lore block. Living individuals are referred to by their role or title.