142 ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM This story has multiple versions. It is said to have happened in various dorms, and the type of soup varies, some claiming it to be red bean soup. Significantly, all the variations in soup are symbols of love. Red beans (or adzuki beans, hongdou are sometimes called (or confused with)'love beans(xiangsi dou), and oxtail soup is clearly a phallic symbol. This may seem far-fetched, and students often object to this interpretation, but a printed version in the Business Adminis- tration orientation camp booklet for 1992 supports this interpretation. It names the soup as ngauh X tong(beef X soup), meaning bull penis soup, a tonic soup for men. That the girlfriend is cooking such a soup makes the sexual nature of their relationship clear. The fact that the soup, a key symbol in the story, varies around the symbol of love suggests the story is in fact about love Soup is an important symbol of domesticity in Hong Kong, and can sometimes have sexual connotations. The expression, to heui yam tong(to go drink soup?) is a euphemism for seeing a mistress. The expression, yam tauh daahm tong(to sip the first soup?), is an expression meaning to be the first to have sexual relations with a virgin. Thus, both in the girl's devotion to making soup, and in the fact that it is soup and not dumplings or a sandwich, the story is suggesting that the couple have a sexual relationship. As in most moral tales and ghost stories, naughty people get their comeuppance. The girl dies as a consequence of her breaking the norm against having sex before marriage It is important to realise that serial dating is still not ver long Kong students. Most importantly, parents generally are strongly opposed to their children dating while they are students. The student role is incompatible with dating, it is viewed as a dangerous distraction that can derail one s studies and career. These stories thus seem to illustrate the danger of dating; the cases of suicide in some stories come from excessive concern over love The stories thus reflect the tension between students' responsibility to study and their interest in sex and dating. All good stories have multiple meanings, but the theme of the conflict between sexual interest and being a good student is at the core of these stories. Understanding this theme helps to explain many of the stories features that, at first glance, may appear to outsiders difficult to understand Some readers may suspect that the ghosts in these stories are nottrue ghosts but are merely folk tales. This view is strengthened by the social interpretation I have suggested, which makes the category of 'ghost collapse into social and psychological forces. Others, however, have taken such stories to be true ghost stories, even using the stories to try to discover the underlying true universal (that is, non-cultural) nature of ghosts(see Emmons 1982). A recent series of local books in Chinese also treats the ghosts as true, and explains them as due to problems of fengshui(daoyijushi 200la, b). Furthermore, the ghosts in these stories are very similar to the stories in the famous Liaozhai zhiyi originally written in the early Qing dynasty (1644-1911)(see Pu 1997). They are also similar142 ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM This story has multiple versions. It is said to have happened in various dorms, and the type of soup varies, some claiming it to be red bean soup. Significantly, all the variations in soup are symbols of love. Red beans (or adzuki beans, hongdou) are sometimes called (or confused with) ‘love beans’ (xiangsi dou), and oxtail soup is clearly a phallic symbol. This may seem far-fetched, and students often object to this interpretation, but a printed version in the Business Adminis￾tration orientation camp booklet for 1992 supports this interpretation. It names the soup as nga`uh X to`ng (‘beef X soup’), meaning bull penis soup, a tonic soup for men. That the girlfriend is cooking such a soup makes the sexual nature of their relationship clear. The fact that the soup, a key symbol in the story, varies around the symbol of love suggests the story is in fact about love. Soup is an important symbol of domesticity in Hong Kong, and can sometimes have sexual connotations. The expression, to heui ya´m to`ng (‘to go drink soup’) is a euphemism for seeing a mistress. The expression, ya´m ta`uh daahm to`ng (‘to sip the first soup’), is an expression meaning to be the first to have sexual relations with a virgin. Thus, both in the girl’s devotion to making soup, and in the fact that it is soup and not dumplings or a sandwich, the story is suggesting that the couple have a sexual relationship. As in most moral tales and ghost stories, naughty people get their comeuppance. The girl dies as a consequence of her breaking the norm against having sex before marriage. It is important to realise that serial dating is still not very common among Hong Kong students. Most importantly, parents generally are strongly opposed to their children dating while they are students. The student role is incompatible with dating; it is viewed as a dangerous distraction that can derail one’s studies and career. These stories thus seem to illustrate the danger of dating; the cases of suicide in some stories come from excessive concern over love. The stories thus reflect the tension between students’ responsibility to study and their interest in sex and dating. All good stories have multiple meanings, but the theme of the conflict between sexual interest and being a good student is at the core of these stories. Understanding this theme helps to explain many of the stories’ features that, at first glance, may appear to outsiders difficult to understand. Some readers may suspect that the ghosts in these stories are not ‘true’ ghosts but are merely folk tales. This view is strengthened by the social interpretation I have suggested, which makes the category of ‘ghost’ collapse into social and psychological forces. Others, however, have taken such stories to be ‘true’ ghost stories, even using the stories to try to discover the underlying true universal (that is, non-cultural) nature of ghosts (see Emmons 1982). A recent series of local books in Chinese also treats the ghosts as ‘true’, and explains them as due to problems of fengshui (Daoyijushi 2001a, b). Furthermore, the ghosts in these stories are very similar to the stories in the famous Liaozhai zhiyi originally written in the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911) (see Pu 1997). They are also similar