The aura of pride was palpable. Inside the Coliseum, a cross-section of Hong Kong packed the venue to watch Polytechnic University students stride into the future. Next to me sat a burly carpenter, uncomfortable in unaccustomed jacket and tie. His wife of 30 years clutched his hand as they saw their daughter rise to receive her master's degree in civil engineering. They clapped. They hugged. There were tears of pride and joy.
With 8,518 degrees and awards to be conferred by University Council chairman Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung last Friday, morning and afternoon sessions were needed. They were dramas in real life. Faculty members in gorgeous robes - scarlet, purple, yellow, orange and puce - filed into the venue in a ceremony dating back to post-medieval Europe.
As Sir Gordon's words of venerable tradition rolled over the assembly - conferring the degrees 'with the authority vested in me', I looked around and mused.
It was a moving spectacle. The garb and the stately pace of centuries-old tradition were subtly blended with modern Hong Kong. The police band played the national anthem. The soft murmurings of the audience were in Cantonese. Inevitably, mobile phones rang.
The parents in the audience tended to be Mr and Mrs Chan, shopkeepers and artisans, the modestly self-employed, taxi drivers and school teachers.
These were the strugglers, the ordinary men and women of Hong Kong. They had worked, and worked hard, for decades to make a decent life in circumstances often difficult. This day was the culmination, their reward for many years of striving sacrifice. I watched the faces around me. Beaming, weeping, glowing, transformed by dignity and honour.
It was, I pondered, an almost mystic experience, an uplifting transformation. Men whose lack of education had sentenced them to a life digging ditches saw their son in academic robes, a bachelor of arts in fashion and textiles. Women whose working lives are spent as cleaners in public housing estates watched in awe and accomplishment as their daughters rose to receive postgraduate diplomas in civil engineering.