This article analyses the varied characteristics of histories of education in Hong Kong and discusses the perspectives that an acquaintance with them can provide. Such a focus encourages consideration of the use of incomplete sources by historians of education, as well as attempts to make sense of past educational developments through periodization. The author adopts a periodization scheme associated with colonialism, which facilitates the identification of mysteries (questions derived from incomplete evidence) and the explanation of myths (answers based on incomplete evidence). He anticipates that a similar approach to other societies could stimulate similar insights into both mysteries and myths. [Copyright of History of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00467600600851136]
