Research and compilation work on the list began in July 1984. The work was undertaken by Professor Lei Hok-ming () of the Department of Chinese of the Education Bureau Institute of Language in Education (ILE) () and other scholars within the department. A Committee for the Research of Commonly-Used Chinese Character Graphemes, composed of scholars from various academic institutions, also participated in the examination and approval process for each character. The list was completed in September 1985 and published in September 1986. The list was revised more thoroughly upon republications in 1990, 1997, and 2000. The 1990 revision was undertaken by three professors in the Chinese department of the ILE. In 2000, the ILE had become a part of the
Education University of Hong Kong, so the editing process was undertaken by three professors (Ze Gaa-hou , Lou Hing-kiu , and Sitou Sau-mei ) of the Education University, along with Lei Hok-ming, who was at
Hong Kong Polytechnic University at the time. The list was last updated in 2007, included as an appendix to the
Hong Kong Chinese Lexical Lists for Primary Learning (). In 2012, the list was published as a hardcover book, with
Cantonese and
Mandarin pronunciations and simple English explanations for every character. ==References==