'Wisdom of History' Programme Kicks Off as Lingnan Hosts First Mainland Study Tour

• Hong Kong launches “Wisdom of History” training for non-history major teachers; first Guangzhou study tour on June 13–14 with 80 participants
• Programme blends site visits, expert lectures, and digital tools to boost patriotic education and enhance Chinese History teaching quality
• Includes 30 hours of training with modules on curriculum, artefact-based learning, and experiential methods led by Lingnan and Baptist Universities

Organized by the HKSAR Government's Education Bureau (EDB) and co-organized by the Hong Kong and South China Historical Research Programme of Lingnan University, the Mainland Study Tour and Training Programme of the "Wisdom of History, Legacy of Knowledge: Professional Development Programme for Junior Secondary Chinese History for non-History Major Teachers" was launched today (5 June) at the EDB Kowloon Tong Education Services Centre. The launch ceremony, titled 'Exploring Guangzhou: Chinese History Teachers Study Tour Launch Ceremony and Briefing Session', made public the launch of the first study tour on 13-14 June, with 80 local secondary school teachers joining. The launch ceremony was officiated by Dr Choi Yuk-lin, Secretary for Education, and included a keynote lecture by Prof Ma Min, Director of the Institute of Modern Chinese History of Central China Normal University. Prof Ma imparted experience with participating teachers on how to advance patriotic education via Chinese history.

Under the 'Wisdom of History' programme, the Guangzhou study tour provides a two-day, one-night cultural and historical field experience in the form of site visits, cultural experiential activities, and academic lectures by experts from the Mainland. The tour is intended to enable teachers to experience historical and cultural remains in different eras and cultivate more profound knowledge about rich history and heritage of our nation. The program facilitates junior secondary Chinese History teachers who are not a history major by strengthening their professional skills and instructional capacity, thus improving learning and teaching quality of the subject and promoting students' national identity.

Dr Choi Yuk-lin thanked Lingnan University for utilizing its scholarly strengths to facilitate the introduction of this significant program. "The 'Wisdom of History' Programme has various modules, such as curriculum interpretation, knowledge augmentation, teaching approaches, museum-based inquiry learning, and field studies", she stated. The content is very much in line with the current trends in history education and incorporates leading-edge methods, including patriotic education, digital humanities application, experiential cultural learning, and gamification learning design for museum tour. Not only does this initiative reflect the education policy established in the Policy Address, but it also reflects the doctrine of integrating in-class and lecture-series learning, as well as innovation and practicability. It empowers teachers to translate what they learn into teaching practice, passing on the wisdom of history to their students.”

Prof Lau Chi-pang, Associate Vice-President (Institutional Advancement and External Affairs), Director of the Office of Institutional Advancement and Public Affairs, and Coordinator of the Hong Kong and South China Historical Research Programme, Lingnan University, mentioned that Lingnan's Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History was the most popular Band A option among JUPAS applicants for the 2025-26 intake, indicating young people's keen interest in history.

He explained, "Chinese history education is crucial in constructing national identity among Hong Kong students. We are privileged to organize the Mainland study tour component of the 'Wisdom of History' programme. Having years of experience in organizing Mainland study tours, we hope to assist teachers in enhancing subject knowledge through real-life learning". We are convinced that experiential learning helps teachers link course content with historical sites and artefacts, enabling them to turn historical knowledge into inspiring teaching materials that assist in developing students' historical perception and national consciousness.

Prof Ma Min said, "I am privileged to be involved in this teacher training programme". By closely following curriculum guidelines and basic learning needs, we can explore intensively historical sources to enable students to acknowledge the richness and coherence of Chinese civilization, hence to cultivate patriotic feelings. Concurrently, Hong Kong's own historical personages and incidents present precious case studies that endow history teaching with warmth and depth. As generative AI and other digital technologies continue to advance, we are able to further raise the interactivity and creativity of history education. In the future, I look forward to working closely with Hong Kong history teachers to create a mutual database of teaching cases and utilize venue resources more efficiently across regions so that learning will be richer and more varied for students.

Ms Vera Ho Si-wing, a teacher representative of Wong Shiu Chi Secondary School, said, "I hope to learn more artefact-based teaching materials, specifically to learn how such cultural treasures can be turned into tangible examples to help foster students' cultural confidence and patriotic spirit. This will enable patriotic education to be incorporated naturally into historical accounts".

The "Wisdom of History" Programme includes 30 hours of professional development. The study tour to Guangzhou, which is conducted by the Hong Kong and South China Historical Research Programme of Lingnan University, is a mandatory module worth 18 hours. The local modules, conducted by the Department of History of Hong Kong Baptist University, include mandatory training in curriculum interpretation and museum visits or field studies, and two electives in knowledge enhancement or teaching strategies, totaling 12 hours.