Hong Kong has been established as an important location for the development of Lingnan seal carving, in particular between the early 1950s and late 1980s. The “Lingnan School” started by Huang Mufu gradually extended to Hong Kong. The scope of research on Hong Kong sigillography should acknowledge the origins, the passing on of expertise and influence of the “Lingnan School”. However, since the 1990s, the study of Hong Kong sigillography has undergone a significant decline in popularity, and the focus of development has shifted back to the Chinese Mainland. Some seal carvers remain active in the local seal community and a few tertiary institutes and organisations have hosted exhibitions and courses, however any continuity in development has been somewhat lost and it appears that a gap in succession has been created over the last few decades. When compared with Mainland China, Japan and Taiwan, sigillography has not maintained a high profile in the Hong Kong art community. The art and its study lag behind that of the counterparts and, as a result, there is a lack of academic research and much further progress to be made in the region of Hong Kong.

As a matter of fact, Hong Kong sigillography, with its unique features and progress, should have stood at an advantaged position. Valuable research materials in both private and public collections for the study of sigillography do exist in Hong Kong and they have attracted the interest of both local, Mainland Chinese and foreign scholars. Amidst the trend of studying Lingnan sigillography, collections of the Hong Kong Museum of Art and its branch museum, the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, cannot be neglected. The collection features close to 1,000 items in total, most of which were generously donated by the K.S. Lo Foundation. Additional donors include Wong Hon-kiu (1914–2005), a student of Jian Jinglun, and Phung Le-hong, the widow of Lau Ping-hang (1915–2003) – a descendent of Ding Yanyong (1902–1978). Amongst them, there are approximately 200 carved seals that originated from Hong Kong and Guangdong with around 60 seal carvers involved in their production. This fully demonstrates the rich and diversified seal style that is characteristic of Lingnan, which is considered highly valuable. If these collections were to be studied in depth, they could supplement the gap of knowledge surrounding the history of seal carving in Hong Kong, and Lingnan sigillography overall.