The forerunner of the D. C. Lau Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts was the Chinese Ancient Texts (CHANT) Project which was set up in 1988 as an integral part of the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Administrative and Planning Committee of the University has at its 4th (2005) meeting held on 15 February 2005 approved the establishment of the Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts under the ICS with effect from 1 April 2005. The University Council has at its 3rd (2011) meeting on 29 November 2011 approved the renaming of the Research Centre as the D. C. Lau Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts.

The late Professor D. C. Lau had devoted his time to the research of ancient Chinese texts after his retirement from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, CUHK, in 1989. He established the CHANT Database and compiled The ICS Ancient Chinese Texts Concordance Series, which laid a solid foundation for the Centre. Professor Lau had named the Centre the sole beneficiary of his will before his death in April 2010. His Residuary Estate, comprising HK$21.36 million in cash and the royalties proceeding from his translations, Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, Mencius, and Confucius: The Analects, were donated to the Centre for the study of ancient Chinese texts. In recognition of the distinguished contributions made by Professor Lau to the Centre, the University named the Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts in his honour, as the D. C. Lau Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts.