The professionalization of the teaching profession has been among one of the most crucial education policies for improving the quality of school education in Hong Kong. This paper reviews the process of professionalizing school teachers in Hong Kong from the early 1970s when it marked the beginning of the significant growth of the size of the teaching profession. In the early 1980s, the idea of setting up a General Teachers' Council (GTC) as a professional organization for the teaching profession was raised and considered by the government in order to improve the professional status of school teachers. However, the GTC proposal has never been materialized. Instead the government turned to focus on other aspects of the teaching professional development since the 1990s, including the formulation of the code of ethics for school teachers, the formation of the Hong Kong Institute of Education resulting from a merger of former teachers' training colleges, the imposition of more stringent requirements in terms of the academic qualifications for new and existing school teachers who are supposed to be degree holders, the implementation of the English and Mandarin (Putonghua) language proficiency assessment or benchmark tests, and also the institutionalization of professional development programs and requirements for school principals and teachers. Reviewing major changes in the teaching professional development (TPD) in Hong Kong over the past three decades, it is argued that the institutionalization of TPD does not necessarily mean teachers having an improved professional status nor teachers are really a well-respected profession in the society.