Trick-or-treating has yet to catch on in Hong Kong. But Halloween has nevertheless been growing in popularity with young people - especially university students - in recent years.
Whether it's costume balls, karaoke parties or pilgrimages to Lan Kwai Fong, Halloween is becoming an integral part of university life in Hong Kong.
Activities can be especially lively at campuses with student hostels. Increasingly, however, events are being held at off-campus venues, as well.
Students at three universities, for example, are planning a joint Halloween ball that is expected to attract hundreds of revellers.
The Inter-College Music Association is also planning an off-campus Halloween party for university students.
But how did this quintessentially American holiday - rooted as it is in the British Isles - catch on in the SAR? And why are so many university students finding it increasingly difficult to resist dressing up like ghosts and goblins? 'Halloween is not a traditional festival for Chinese people, so they didn't use to celebrate it,' Janet Pong, a second year computer engineering major at the Univer sity of Hong Kong, said. 'But now people think it is a lot of fun so more people are becoming focused on it.' According to a local academic who researches cultural issues, there was something about Halloween that made it especially easy for young people in Hong Kong to identify with.