In Hong Kong’s 2026 Budget, the special administrative region government announced that the Intellectual Property Department and the Vocational Training Council will launch a two-year pilot Hong Kong Intellectual Property Academy, with HK$52 million ($6.6 million) in funding and a target launch in the fourth quarter of this year. It plans short and intermediate awareness courses, and a postgraduate diploma linked to the Qualifications Framework. A steering committee chaired by Professor Lee Wai-kwong was formed in September. The framework is sound, but it still leans toward legal affairs and compliance.

Cultural IP cannot be taught only in classrooms. It is forged in markets, grown in audiences, and made through licensing, adaptation, co-branding, overseas expansion, mistakes, and defense of rights.

The academy should teach judgment, not clauses — when an IP suits a game, a live experience, or a foreign adaptation. It should teach collaboration, putting lawyers, creators, game developers, and brand managers around the same table. It should teach failure, using Hong Kong’s IP successes and failures as case studies. Above all, it should connect courtrooms with film sets, patent lawyers with game designers, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area investors with Hong Kong creators.

Best-selling novelist Jin Yong’s 15 wuxia (martial arts and chivalry) tales are the Chinese-speaking world’s most complete narrative universe. From serials in Ming Pao (which he founded) to television, film, comics, and games, their influence is vast. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum’s permanent Jin Yong Gallery displays more than 300 exhibits. But it is a memorial, not an industry engine. It shows past glory, not future possibility. Hong Kong’s approach remains curatorial, not operational.

By way of example, Japan’s version of Luo Guanzhong’s novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms became the video game Dynasty Warriors, opening a global gateway to Three Kingdoms history. Japan did not own the Three Kingdoms; it operated them. Jin Yong’s world is no less rich in characters, worldview, and emotional resonance.

The Chinese mainland is transforming the IP landscape. In February, digital interactive entertainment company CreateAI released an Unreal Engine 5 open-world game, Heroes of Jin Yong, integrating such novels as The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. The 200-strong production team traveled to famous mountains and scanned over 100 ancient buildings in the course of research; the game is expected on PC and PlayStation in 2029. Other mainland firms are reserving top Jin Yong IP for “premium big IP plus multi-terminal” strategies. Yet Hong Kong’s role remains unclear. It has cultural roots, an international legal system, and is a finance hub, but is not the coordinator or strategy center. This is a planning problem.

Reference can again be made to Japan, which treats content as national strategy. In 2026, the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters of Japan made the content industry a priority, aiming for support comparable to that in South Korea, Europe and the United States, stronger bargaining power, and anti-piracy measures. The government included content among 17 competitiveness investment areas, selected the first 23 “content regional revitalization hubs”, is planning to expand to about 200 by 2033, and targets overseas sales rising from 6 trillion yen ($38 billion) to 20 trillion yen. Sony shows the corporate lesson. Last financial year, gaming, music, and film/TV generated 65.7 percent of revenue and 74.1 percent of operating profit. PlayStation remains a gateway, but IP is the engine. Sony oversees the super IP ecosystem produced by Crunchyroll, Kadokawa, and Bandai Namco. Hardware profits are thin; however, content and IP sustain value.

Hong Kong’s policy remains at “protect IP”, not “plan IP”. Protection is defense; planning is offense. Hong Kong needs planning. So what can be done with Jin Yong’s IP?

First, physicalization and scenification. Hong Kong’s Jin Yong Gallery is limited — a reading space, not an experience. Mainland examples include Hunyuan’s “Xiao Ao Jiang Hu City” at Mount Heng, with live performances, nonplayer character interaction, archery, and pitch-pot; Haining’s “Jin Yong’s Hometown • Jianghu Hui”, with a bookstore and micro-short drama screenwriting base; and Gansu’s Kongtong Ancient Town, building “Kongtong Sect ancient style” through cultural experience, immersive districts, and theater. Hong Kong needs a large-scale Jin Yong experience: real sets, motion capture, virtual reality, perhaps Ocean Park wuxia rides. This is tourism infrastructure, not just culture.

Second, international film and television. Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) Amendment Agreement II, effective March 2025, removed Hong Kong investment restrictions in film production and allowed approved Hong Kong dramas in prime time. Go further: Do not just sell rights, but co-develop with Netflix and other international platforms. The moral dilemmas and identity conflicts described by Jin Yong are universal.

Third, games and interactive content. The mainland is developing Jin Yong games in matrix form. Hong Kong can be the coordinator, not a developer: Use its common-law legal system, finance, and global networks to bring top studios, mainland teams, and international publishing together, based in Hong Kong.

Fourth, education and youth. Jin Yong is already in textbooks and reading workshops, but the IP industry needs creative participation. Youth competitions — comics, short films, game prototypes, scripts — should link to industry. Young people should be co-creators, not only readers.

The IP industry is not about “protection” but “operation”. Protection is necessary; operation is sufficient. Hong Kong has legal protection, international finance, and Jin Yong’s deep story mine. It lacks systematic planning. The Hong Kong Intellectual Property Academy should start there — not only patents and valuation, but how to turn a story into an industry. Jin Yong’s jianghu has waited too long. It does not need more memorials. It needs a real departure.

The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies and artistic director of Zuni Icosahedron.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.