Jao Tsung-I Academy

The Jao Tsung-I Academy is one of the projects in the first batch of the “Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme” of the Development Bureau of the HKSAR Government. It is located at the site of the former Lai Chi Kok Hospital. The Hong Kong Institute for the Promotion of Chinese Culture (HKIPCC), a non-governmental organization (NGO), is directly responsible for the restoration, revitalisation and daily operation of the Academy. The Academy is named after Professor Jao Tsung-I, a renowned contemporary scholar of Chinese culture.

The Academy sits on a hill in Lai Chi Kok. The cluster of buildings at its present site has served different purposes in the past – as a hospital, a customs station, dwellings for Chinese labourers, a quarantine station, a prison, an infectious diseases hospital and a psychiatric rehabilitation centre. With its unique location and structures, the site has played different roles at different times, responding to the needs of the society in each phase of its development. Now, the compound has been revitalised as a cultural landmark, in response to the current needs for cultural development in our society.