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About this archive
In one sentence: HKU·WILD is an unofficial archive of wild history about The University of Hong Kong (HKU) — it gathers facts, figures, developments and campus lore; every claim is sourced, cross-checked through multiple rounds, and graded by strength of evidence. It centres on the fact that HKU is Hong Kong's oldest institution of higher learning※ (founded in 1911 under the University Ordinance, with teaching commencing in 1912※).
This page is the site's master index: first, how we work (method and anonymisation); then a tour of the eighteen modules; finally, a few flagship articles as entry points.
1. What does the site cover, and how is it layered?
The site has eighteen modules in three layers. Credibility decreases, and presentational strictness increases, as you go down:
- Reference Zone (00–12): factual content verifiable from official primary or reliable secondary sources — institutional history, academics, research, campus, people, medicine, finance, internationalisation, and more. Every objective statement carries a source.
- Wild-History Zone (13–16): campus politics and restructuring, student movements, campus legends, cross-strait tensions, and the like. Competing accounts are presented side by side, each statement attributed by strength of evidence; no verdict is rendered. Controversial allegations are only included once corroborated by an independent source.
- Link Directories (17–18): popular rumours and highly sensitive contested claims. Links only, no prose — grouped by theme, with source type annotated and bare links listed; judge truth for yourself.
2. How do I tour the eighteen modules?
The Wild-History Main Hall
- 13 · Governance & Reform — governance structures, restructuring, power struggles and the University's handling of them (wild-history zone)
- 14 · History of Student Movements — a full history of the Students' Union and student social engagement (1912–2026): the fiery era, the 1989 support movement, and the rise and fall of organisations — three in-depth dossiers (wild-history zone)
- 15 · Campus Lore · Anecdotes · Speech — campus legends and hall traditions, student media and the history of speech — two in-depth dossiers; legends and sourced items are physically separated (wild-history zone)
- 16 · Mainland Students & Cross-Strait Dynamics — the mainland-China student community, cross-cultural and linguistic tensions; multiple sources side by side, taking no sides (wild-history zone)
Academics & Research
- 01 · Academics — the ten faculties and departments, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, academic structure and the general-education system
- 04 · Research — State Key Laboratories, InnoHK centres, landmark breakthroughs, named chairs and technology transfer
- 11 · Medicine / Hospitals — the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, dentistry, public health and Chinese medicine, teaching hospitals and the clinical network
Campus & Colleges
- 05 · Campus — campus geography, building inventory, transport facilities, sustainability, museums and ecology
- 10 · Colleges / Accommodation — an overview of the residential-hall system and the individual halls (St. John's, University Hall, Ricci, Lady Ho Tung, and more) — their history and traditions
- 07 · Student Life — student organisations, hall traditions, sport and the "big two" rivalry, campus arts and student media
Overview · People · Administration
- 00 · Overview — fact card, FAQ, key numbers, pre-foundation history, chronology, motto and crest, governance structure
- 03 · Rankings — overall world rankings and subject rankings, with historical trends
- 02 · Admissions — undergraduate admission routes, tuition and scholarships, graduate destinations
- 06 · People — leading scholars, notable alumni, short biographies, honorary degrees and the alumni network
- 08 · Finances — annual income and expenditure and reserves, the endowment, and the philanthropic families behind the naming donations
- 09 · Internationalisation — global partnerships and exchanges, double/joint degrees, the Greater Bay Area and national role
- 12 · Miscellany — the press and flagship publications, libraries and museums, academic journals, digital learning, the shape of Hong Kong higher education
Wilder Still (Low-Credibility Link Directories)
⚠ The following two volumes are pure source-link directories for popular rumours and contested claims: links only, no prose. Content pertaining to Hong Kong independence or violence appears as links only; judge truth for yourself.
- 17 · Wilder Policies — ⚠ low-credibility source directory
- 18 · Wilder Movements — ⚠ low-credibility source directory
3. Don't know where to start? Begin with these
If you don't know where to begin, these flagship articles are good entry points:
- HKU and Emerging Infectious Diseases: 1997 Avian Flu, 2003 SARS and 2020 COVID-19 — identification of the 2003 SARS coronavirus, the civet-cat trace, the first human H5N1 case, isolation of the novel coronavirus and the nasal-spray vaccine, and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control.
- The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine (Part 1): The 1887 College of Medicine for Chinese and Sun Yat-sen's Student Years — from the 1887 College of Medicine for Chinese to the first faculty of the 1911 founding, and Sun Yat-sen's years of study; the five-school structure and the 2006 naming are covered in Part 2.
- Governance and Reform at HKU — Power, Autonomy and Political Pressure — the 2015 pro-vice-chancellor selection controversy (the Mr. X case), students storming a Council meeting; competing accounts side by side, no verdict.
- The Fiery Era — HKU Students and Social Movements in the 1970s — the Chinese-language movement (the 1967 petition → the 1974 Official Languages Ordinance), the 1971 Diaoyutai protest at Victoria Park, the anti-corruption "Catch Godber" campaign, the Golden Jubilee incident, and the dispute between the "national-essence" and "social-action" factions.
- HKU's Virology and Microbiology Tradition — From Named Pathogens to International Honours — SKLEID, HKU-Pasteur, the InnoHK virology centres, pathogens named after "HKU", and the 2021 Future Science Prize.
You can also tour the site another way: browse and search · timeline · people index; for the site's sources and textual notes, see the "校勘" (textual notes) bar at the top.
4. How does the site verify and anonymise?
- Every claim is sourced: every objective piece of information carries a source, as annotated in each article's frontmatter
sources[]and inline@[word](URL)citations. Weak sources, sole attestations, and discrepant accounts are always flagged and presented side by side — no extrapolation, no verdicts. - De-sensitising (anonymisation): current leadership figures are always referred to by title, never by name; named living individuals in contested contexts are rendered as "Mr. [surname]"; negative content concerning named living individuals without reliable sourcing is not included.
- Politically sensitive content: topics of high sensitivity, such as Hong Kong independence, violence and conflict, are handled under established rules — external links only, no prose, no retelling, no timeline (see link directories 17 and 18).
- Credibility grading: wild-history and rumour items all carry source-strength labels; purely folkloric legends are physically isolated in rumour cards marked "rumoured, not verified".