Louis Ng Chi-wa

Historian and arts administrator Louis Ng took up the role of inaugural director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2019. Situated in the city’s West Kowloon Cultural District, the US$450 million institution opened in 2022. Designed by Rocco Design Architects Associates, it features 8,400 sq ft of exhibition galleries housing nearly 900 artefacts on loan from Beijing’s Palace Museum.

Ng brings over three decades of public museum leadership to the role. He joined public museums in 1988, served as a curator at the Hong Kong Museum of History from 1992 to 2002 and spent four years as executive secretary of the government’s Antiquities and Monuments Office. Before joining the Hong Kong Palace Museum, he spent 13 years at the Leisure and Cultural Services Department as assistant director and later deputy director, overseeing the city’s public museums and arts venues.

In recent years, Ng has expanded the museum’s global curation strategy and cultural diplomacy. He orchestrated the landmark Ancient Egypt Unveiled exhibition, designed a slate of nine cross-civilisation exhibitions and forged an international partnership with Uzbekistan’s Centre of Islamic Civilisation. Holding a bachelor’s, master’s and PhD in history from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ng was appointed honorary professor in the Department of Chinese History and Culture at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in February 2024.