We use Hong Kong stock market data for 1982-2001 to test the persistence of the size and value premia and the robustness of the Fama-French (FF) three-factor model in explaining the variation in stock returns. We document a statistically significant and persistent size effect or size premium that is robust even for non-January months but is heightened in January. We also find that the reversal of the size effect in January reported by Chui and Wei (1998) is unique to their study period, while the general reversal of the size effect reported by Lam (2002) may be due to a sample dominated by firms with low to medium book equity-to-market ratios. The book to market effect or value premium is weaker than the size effect and less consistent than in Fama and French (1993) and Drew and Veeraraghavan (2003). Our results also support the explanation that the size and value premia are rewards for risk bearing consistent with the efficient market hypothesis. We further find a large improvement in explanatory power provided by the French and Fama model relative to the CAPM but that the FF model is mis-specified for the Hong Kong market.