The Hong Kong Education Bureau has implemented various measures to support the integration of South Asian ethnic minorities into local communities. One such measure is providing Chinese language education in primary and secondary schools, as proficiency in Chinese is considered crucial for social mobility. The measure has been implemented for a decade; positive outcomes are to be expected. However, official data about the Chinese proficiency level of South Asian ethnic minorities is limited. With the increase in the number of South Asian students from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri-Lanka successfully entering higher education institutions in Hong Kong, there is a need for language teachers to find out more about the current situation of this learner group and reflect on current curriculum and pedagogy. This study investigates the issues of reading acquisition of South Asian students, aged 18 to 22, and from various academic disciplines, with prior knowledge of traditional Chinese characters and Cantonese, in an English as a medium of instruction Hong Kong university in their Chinese language learning, specifically in intermediate Chinese reading and writing courses. Preliminary results show that the South Asian students acknowledge the advantage of their prior knowledge, that is, understanding of radicals and the full handwriting ability of a traditional characters, while having some difficulties in recognising simplified characters such as characters which are totally different in form. Practitioners can enhance their awareness and understanding of students’ learning backgrounds and difficulties to facilitate their learning. Additionally, relevant learning materials, such as comparisons of traditional and simplified radicals and the basic rules for Chinese character conversion could be supplemented to assist students.