Hong Kong has a rich biodiversity in different taxonomic groups, yet, we do not know much about the Kingdom Fungi. According to the Checklist of Hong Kong Fungi published in 2000, there are over 2,100 records belonging to 850 genera. The Checklist reported species of ascomycetes, basidiomycetes, lichens, oomycetes and zygomycetes that were found from coastal areas, forests, freshwater, mangrove, marine water, and urban areas in association with dead organic matter or living plants and animals. However, in the past 30 years, the research in Hong Kong has mainly focused on microfungi, and the understanding of the diversity of macrofungi (i.e. mushrooms) has not been thoroughly grasped, and even a complete list of macrofungi is lacking.

Fungi are an understudied, biotechnologically valuable group of organisms and studies of fungi are regarded as "a neglected megascience'. They have potentials to develop into new food, medicine, fermentation products and chemicals, and can be taken as indicator organisms for forest health assessment.

In view of the growing interest of the general public and gaps of updated knowledge, there is a need to conduct more comprehensive fungal diversity survey to assess and understand the diversity in different natural forests and distribution of different fungal species in Hong Kong. The current survey focuses on the diversity of macrofungal resources in different country parks and evaluates the economic value of macrofungal resources in the region. It will provide the theoretical basis for protection, resource development and utilization.

According to the recent findings, there are more 280 species of macrofungi in Hong Kong, of which, about 15% are poisonous, 20% are edible, and 8% are medicinal mushrooms. The dominant mushroom families are Agaricaceae, Amanitaceae, Boletaceae, Polyporaceae, and Russulaceae.