The Tang Chi Ngong School of Chinese is accessible both from the University main campus and from Bonham Road through a stone archway and up a winding flight of stairs. The name of the Building commemorates its donor and his wish that it be called the School of Chinese.
In 1931 the Department of Chinese received an important donation of two buildings from two philanthropists with the aim of furthering Chinese studies at the University. The Tang Chi Ngong School of Chinese opened in September of that year and Fung Ping Shan Building towards the end of the following one, each bearing the name of its donor.
Classes took place at the Tang Chi Ngong School of Chinese as part of the curriculum of the Faculty of Arts. The Department ‘s curriculum was extended to include three subjects, namely literature, history and philosophy which was a new addition. It was only in the early 1950s that Chinese classes were moved back to Main Building so that they could better integrate with other courses offered in the Arts Faculty. During the thirty years from the completion of the Tang Chi Ngong School of Chinese to 1962, the names of graduates of the Department of Chinese were inscribed on boards at the entrance of the Building, and there they remain, greeting visitors even today. Tang Chi Ngong Building now houses the Centre of Asian Studies.
The Tang Chi Ngong School of Chinese is unique in the University for the use of the letter”v” in place of the letter “u” as in “vniversity”. This appears on the stone arch, facade as well as on the stone tablet marking the building’s foundation date. The two letters are interchangeable in Latin and reflects a practice common in the 1920s and 1930s.
The Tang Chi Ngong School of Chinese was declared one of Hong Kong’s historical buildings by the Antiquities and Monuments Office in September 15, 1993.