Hong Kong Adventist College (HKAC) is a co-educational institution of higher learning located in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. The college is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second largest Christian school system.
Seventh-day Adventists first began the educational work in China in the southern part of mainland China. In 1903, the church operating in Canton (now Guangzhou) founded its first school. This girls school was called “The Bethel Girls’ School”. In 1905, the church established "Yick Chi Boys’ School." In 1911, the Yick Chi Boys' School was closed and re-opened as a middle school five years later as “Sam Yuk School".
The Sam Yuk School grew and became successful. As a result, land was purchased in the eastern part of the Canton city to meet the rapid growth of the school. In 1922, the buildings were erected. When the buildings were ready for use, the Bethel Girls’ School was integrated as a part of Sam Yuk School. The new school served the Guangzhou, Hakka, and Guangxi Missions in the South China region. In 1935, the South China Union Mission took charge of the Sam Yuk School and renamed it the “Canton Training Institute.”
In 1937 the Sino-Japanese War broke out, plunging China into turmoil. To remain in operation, the school was moved across the border to the then British territory of Hong Kong and temporarily operated in Shatin. At that time the school was renamed as the "South China Training Institute". Later, the "China Training Institute" (Junior College), another Adventist education institution from central China, was also moved to the same premise. The two schools were merged to form the “China and South China Training Institute.” Soon after, a piece of land consisting of was purchased at Clear Water Bay Peninsula in the New Territories. Development for a permanent campus began and after two years, the campus buildings were completed, with the school in Shatin soon arriving.