High Table Dinner

The “Feast”

Times flies! The first semester has gone. After the end-of-term exams there came the High Table Dinner on Dec. 18, as expected by all of the students. The experience was certainly one of a kind for the freshmen not only because it was supposed to be a grand feast, but also because it was, for most of them, the first time to dine at such a social and formal occasion.

The origin of "High Table" can be traced back to the physical layout of the dining halls of English colleges at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In those colleges, undergraduates in their commoners or scholars gown would sit at long refectory tables. At the far end of the hall, on a raised platform or dais, a table was set for the master and fellows of the college who sat above the undergraduates - at the High Table.

This time in particular, sitting at the CUHK (SZ) High Table were President Yangsheng Xu, Vice Presidents Tom Luo and Mrs. Grace Chow, accompanied with Professor Gu Yang, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science, Professor Li Xia, Associate President and the Director of the Office of Student Affairs, Dr. Andy Wong, Assistant Dean of the School of Management and Economics.

The undergraduates attended in dinner party dresses, talking light-heartedly and politely, occasionally burst out laughing.Professor Tom Luo and Dr. Andy Wong delivered their speeches one after another, with words of humor and inspiration. Students cheered, for the end of the first semester, and the coming Christmas. Then the gorgeous feast started.

The tables were set and decorated delicately, with polished knives and forks, beautiful reflections inverted through glasses under the ceiling decorations. The food was both appetizing and exquisite. President Xu and Vice-president Luo walked down and chatted with students closely.

What a relaxing and enjoying moment after a long term of study! Everyone seemed satisfied, leaving behind all those intensive moments in classrooms. With gratitude at the end of the dinner, students who made outstanding achievements or contributions to the school received thank-you letters. With delightfulness, the high table dinner came to an end, which also marked the end of the first semester.