Accommodation, Hall Culture and College Traditions

At CUHK, “which hall you live in” is almost the same as “which family you belong to”. The largest university campus in Hong Kong, covering about 137.3 hectares^※, is built up a hillside, scattering halls, canteens and lecture buildings across a series of slopes; the nine colleges weave accommodation into an entire system — from the points‑based allocation of hostel places, to full‑residence communal dining at High Table Dinners, and on to the Thousand‑Person Banquets that gather thousands of students around the same tables on college anniversary nights. The hillside terrain and the collegiate system together shape CUHK’s distinctive residential and living culture. This chapter focuses on accommodation and college traditions; for inter‑college sports rivalry on campus, see 23‑athletics‑rivalry; for canteens and food safety, see 19‑canteen‑food‑safety.

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# 1. College Halls: Who Can Stay, and For How Long

Residential life at CUHK is organised around the colleges. According to a report by China News Service, CUHK operates “a universal college system”: every member of staff and every student, except research postgraduates, belongs to one of the nine colleges^※; the colleges are responsible for whole‑person education and hall life. The nine colleges fall broadly into two groups by their founding era and residential model:

• The older, larger colleges (Chung Chi, New Asia, United, Shaw): they provide a large stock of undergraduate halls (often called Hall or Hostel). Places are allocated through a points system (factoring in service contribution, travelling distance, participation, etc.) and are not guaranteed for the full duration of a degree.
• The newer, fully residential colleges (S.H. Ho, Morningside, C.W. Chu, Wu Yee Sun, Lee Woo Sing): according to the same China News Service report, S.H. Ho, Morningside and C.W. Chu, among others, offer full‑residence accommodation and schedule regular college communal meals, including opportunities to dine with the college head^※. This “full residence & communal dining” model results in stronger college cohesion and a higher density of staff–student interaction.

Most college halls are named after donors or commemorative figures or places. Postgraduate (master’s and doctoral) accommodation sits outside the undergraduate college hostel system and is centrally managed by the University through the Postgraduate Hall (PGH) scheme, which includes some family flats; postgraduate places are fiercely competitive and are usually not guaranteed throughout a student’s entire course. According to the official Postgraduate Hall information^※, the postgraduate hostel system comprises six blocks offering over 1,600 places for students on full‑time research programmes or UGC‑funded taught programmes. Notably, Jockey Club Postgraduate Halls 2 and 3 (JCPGH2 and JCPGH3) — a women’s hall and a men’s hall respectively — came into use at the end of 2018. Located in “Area 39” on CUHK’s northern campus, the two blocks together house 676 postgraduates, mostly in twin rooms supplemented by a small number of single rooms, and were built with environmentally friendly design and extensive green open spaces. The postgraduate hall system runs in parallel with the undergraduate college hostel system, reflecting the two relatively independent strands — “college undergraduates” and “postgraduates” — within CUHK’s accommodation framework.

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# 2. Hall Culture: Living in Hall as One of the “Five University Must‑Dos”

“Living in hall” is widely listed as one of the “five must‑do university experiences” — it is a key part of Hong Kong student life and involves far more than a bed; it is a whole community life revolving around the hostel:

• Hall Association: each hall has a hall association run by student officers (the “jong”, i.e. the executive cabinet), which organises hall activities, welfare and external social events.
• Hall traditions: these include the Hall Orientation Camp (Hall O Camp), anniversary dinners, floor‑versus‑floor or block‑versus‑block competitions, hall songs, hall colours and mascots, late‑night chats, and more.
• “Hall points”: residents accumulate points by taking part in hall activities. The points system is both a source of belonging and a direct factor in securing a place the following year — it hard‑wires “active participation” to “staying on”, serving as the institutional engine of hall culture.
• The hillside terrain makes going “up‑hill” or “down‑hill” between halls and lecture venues a substantial physical effort, fostering heavy reliance on the campus shuttle buses and a distinctive “mountain‑campus” memory of daily life.

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# 3. Dem Beat: A Clapping Culture Born at CUHK

If one had to pick a cultural signifier that best captures the soundscape of hall and society orientation at CUHK, it would be Dem Beat. According to the Wikipedia entry on “Dem beat”^※, Dem Beat is a campus culture that originated at The Chinese University of Hong Kong; the term literally means “demonstration of beat”. The practice involves large numbers of students wearing T‑shirts printed with their society or college logo, standing in formation, stomping their feet, clapping rhythmically, and chanting rhyming slogans in unison — the senior students leading the chant may even stand on canteen tables to conduct the crowd.

Functionally, Dem Beat serves both publicity and bonding purposes: it is frequently seen at college Orientation Camps (O Camp) and during society‑cabinet elections or recruitment drives. It grabs attention as a publicity stunt, and it is also thought to help build team identity and a sense of belonging — closely paralleling the logic of “hall points” described above: both convert a feeling of participation into a tangible, performable collective ritual.

Dem Beat and “Dem Cheer” are often confused, but they have different origins: according to the same source, Dem Cheer originated at The University of Hong Kong (HKU’s first residential hall, St. John’s College, was founded in 1912) and has a longer history; it emphasises formation drills and an almost parade‑ground precision. Dem Beat, on the other hand, mostly traces back to student societies under the CUHK colleges and later spread through the college hostel network; it is looser and more improvisational in style, with slogans usually rhyming in Cantonese, and it is markedly more frequent — it appears at almost any orientation or publicity event.

Dem Beat is not a cultural symbol without controversy. The same source records the “SCBA Dem Beat incident” of 2009, in which outside visitors at a cultural event felt disturbed by the noise and intensity of a Dem Beat session. Other critics contend that the activity exerts group pressure to compel participation, and they question its authenticity and cultural substance. This tension between “high spirits” and “pressure” is, in a sense, also the query often directed at hall culture as a whole — does participation stem from voluntary belonging, or from implicit coercion under a group atmosphere? The Origin Archive merely documents the existence of this debate; it makes no judgment.

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# 4. Thousand‑Person Banquets: Two Colleges, One Sense of Belonging

The Thousand‑Person Banquet is the grandest expression of the communal‑dining culture of the CUHK colleges. On college‑anniversary nights, thousands of staff and students sit down to eat together and watch performances, distilling the collective belonging of an entire college into an open‑air feast. New Asia and Chung Chi each have their own Thousand‑Person Banquet traditions.

New Asia College “Thousand‑Person Banquet”. New Asia College was founded in 1949 by scholars such as Ch’ien Mu, Tang Chun‑i and Zhang Pijie^※ and has a strong humanistic tradition. Public records show that the Thousand‑Person Banquet is held in New Asia’s circular plaza during the college’s anniversary period, bringing large numbers of staff, students and alumni to sit and eat together (poon choi, a basin feast) and enjoy performances^※. In the anniversary calendar, the New Asia anniversary celebration is the first major college‑wide event of the academic year, falling between September (Confucius’ Birthday, the statutory college anniversary day) and 10 October (the day New Asia was founded), and comprising a “Dai Pai Dong” carnival, the Thousand‑Person Banquet and puzzle‑solving games, among other activities^※. The spiritual roots go back to the spirit of the founders — according to New Asia College, the “New Asia Spirit” derives from the determination of its founders who, despite severe material privation and rudimentary facilities, still pursued educational and cultural ideals with meagre means^※; the shared table of the Thousand‑Person Banquet embodies precisely that staff‑student camaraderie and college attachment. Such large‑scale banquets are also often tied to scholarship fundraising.

Chung Chi College “Thousand‑Person Banquet”. According to the student‑compiled CUTSA College Handbook^※, Chung Chi College also holds a “Thousand‑Person Banquet” during its annual Founder’s Day: the organisers hire the Lingnan Sports Field, erect a large stage, and all Chung Chi students gather to watch performances while eating with their hallmates and classmates. The name “Thousand‑Person” plainly reflects the scale of the feast.

The Thousand‑Person Banquet is the ultimate expression of “the college as a living community”: when thousands of students share a meal and enjoy a performance together on the same square or sports ground, the college stops being an abstract badge of affiliation and becomes a tangible, palpable community — a vivid footnote to the CUHK collegiate ideal of “whole‑person education and community belonging”.

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# 5. High Table Dinner: A Sense of Occasion Imported from Oxford and Cambridge

In contrast to the “bigness” of the Thousand‑Person Banquet, the High Table Dinner is characterised by a sense of occasion. It traces its origins to the formal long‑table dinners of Oxford and Cambridge residential colleges, and has been adopted by many collegiate universities in Hong Kong and across Asia. According to the University’s official description of the college system^※, at fully‑residential colleges such as Morningside, S.H. Ho and C.W. Chu, students live on campus and dine together at regular times, with the High Table Dinner as a distinctive feature.

Colleges incorporate High Table Dinners into their college‑based general‑education or whole‑person‑education (non‑formal education) programmes. Taking Shaw College as an example, its High Table Dinners are classified as non‑formal education activities within college general education, in which guest speakers share ideas during a formal meal on topics ranging from social service, environmental protection, arts and culture, to mediation and wine appreciation^※; one such dinner was scheduled for the second term of the 2025/26 academic year, with a professor speaking on “My Journey as a Researcher and an Educator” (10 February 2026)^※. It is not just “eating”: staff and students (and sometimes guests) dine together in a formal setting with a set etiquette and programme, combining etiquette education, aesthetic appreciation and communal‑dining education while promoting interaction among staff, students and guests. Some colleges have a convention of attendance or formal dress at High Table Dinners.

“Thousand‑Person Banquet” vs “High Table Dinner”: the former is a large‑scale open‑air feast of the traditional bigger colleges, emphasising scale and belonging; the latter is a formal dining event of the newer, fully‑residential colleges, emphasising ceremony and staff–student interaction. These two strands of communal‑dining culture neatly reflect the two temperaments within CUHK’s collegiate system — the “traditional large college” and the “fully‑residential small college”.

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# 6. Feng Huo Tai: A Gathering Space on the Hillside Campus

• Feng Huo Tai (烽火台; Beacon Tower): situated on the main campus and comprising the Ch’ien Mu bronze statue and the “gate”‑shaped sculpture (i.e. Ju Ming’s work Growing Up, also known as 仲門; see the Arts & Culture feature for details), this iconic plaza (often mentioned together with the adjacent “Cultural Square” area) has long served as the traditional space for student gatherings, expressions of opinion, and the posting of publicity materials. Major announcements and activities by student organisations tend to be held here, and its walls are usually plastered with society journals and event posters; it has long been regarded as a symbol of the atmosphere of student self‑governance on campus.

Feng Huo Tai and the area around University Station have long borne the weight of CUHK’s assemblies, commemorations and expressions of stance, and therefore occupy a special place in the campus memory. This article merely presents the factual account of Feng Huo Tai’s cultural role as a “gathering space”; narratives touching on specific political events or the retention of memorials fall within the scope of topics on university governance / student movements, and are not elaborated on here.

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# 7. What Links the Halls Together: Canteens and Shuttle Buses (outline)

The canteens and shuttle buses on the hillside campus are the two “arteries” of hostel life — “waiting for the bus” and “dashing for the bus” have become a distinct topic of CUHK life and a shared collective memory, while the canteens in the colleges and on the main campus serve as central social hubs in students’ daily routines. The canteen system, the contractor (canteen operator) arrangements, food safety, and the whole topic of “CUHK cuisine” are dealt with in a separate entry, so they are not developed further in this chapter; see 19‑canteen‑food‑safety.

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# Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How are CUHK hostel places allocated?

A: Accommodation at CUHK is organised around the nine colleges and falls into two models. In the older, larger colleges (Chung Chi, New Asia, United, Shaw), places are allocated through a points system (factoring in service contribution, travelling distance, participation, etc.) and are not guaranteed for the whole degree. The newer, fully residential colleges (S.H. Ho, Morningside, C.W. Chu, Wu Yee Sun, Lee Woo Sing) offer full‑residence accommodation and schedule regular college communal meals, including opportunities to dine with the college head — the “full residence & communal dining” model, which results in denser staff‑student interaction.

Q: What exactly is hall life like at CUHK?

A: “Living in hall” is counted among the “five must‑do university experiences” of Hong Kong student life, and it revolves around a complete community life. Each hall has a Hall Association (run by a student cabinet, the “jong”) that organises traditions such as the Hall Orientation Camp (Hall O Camp), anniversary dinners, floor‑versus‑floor or block‑versus‑block competitions, and hall songs. Residents accumulate “hall points” by taking part in hall activities, which directly affects their chance of securing a place the following year — linking “participation” and “staying on” in a direct feedback loop. The hillside topography also makes the trek “up‑hill” or “down‑hill” between halls and lecture venues a physical effort, so the campus shuttle buses become an everyday necessity.

Q: What is the situation with postgraduate housing at CUHK?

A: Postgraduate accommodation sits outside the undergraduate college hostel system and is centrally managed by the University. According to official Postgraduate Hall information, the postgraduate hostel system comprises six blocks offering over 1,600 places for students on full‑time research programmes or UGC‑funded taught programmes; some provision is made for families. Of these, Jockey Club Postgraduate Halls 2 and 3 (JCPGH2 and JCPGH3, a women’s hall and a men’s hall respectively) have been in use since the end of 2018; located in “Area 39” on the northern campus, the two blocks house 676 postgraduates together, mainly in twin rooms. Postgraduate places are in high demand and are usually not guaranteed for the full duration of a course.

Q: What special college or hall activities does CUHK have?

A: The most representative is the “Dem Beat” clapping culture that originated at CUHK — students stand in formation, stomp, clap and chant slogans in unison, most often seen at college orientation camps and society cabinet elections. Meanwhile, on college‑anniversary nights, the “Thousand‑Person Banquet” sees New Asia College hold its feast in its circular plaza and Chung Chi College hire the sports field, with thousands of staff and students dining together and watching performances. The fully‑residential colleges such as Morningside, S.H. Ho and C.W. Chu also hold “High Table Dinners” that trace back to Oxbridge traditions, distinctive for their sense of occasion and formal staff‑student interaction.

Q: How does the CUHK hostel / college system differ from other universities?

A: CUHK is the only university in Hong Kong that runs a collegiate system. Founded in 1963 through the federation of Chung Chi, New Asia and United colleges, it now comprises nine colleges; every member of staff and every student except research postgraduates belongs to one of them. The colleges are responsible for whole‑person education and hall life — a different model from universities where halls merely provide accommodation. From points‑based allocation and full‑residence High Table Dinners to Thousand‑Person Banquets and Dem Beat culture, the colleges turn “accommodation” into an entire institutional design for community living and belonging.

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