The Jewish Historical Society of Hong Kong (JHS) was founded following a lecture given by S.J. Chan in 1984 at the former Jewish Club. The subject was the Jewish Community in the 12th Century Song dynasty capital of Kaifeng, and it was greeted with such enthusiasm that Chan challenged the Community to establish an association to begin collecting information about the Sino-Judaic experience in Hong Kong and China.

The initial aims of the JHS, an informal Society, were to establish a Judaica library for the Jewish community within which would be housed the Sino-Judaic collection; to promote Sino-Judaic co-operation; to thoroughly document the Hong Kong Jewish community and to publish on the subject. Lofty aims for a Society with only four founding members.