Pan Handian was born on 3 December 1920 in Shantou, Guangdong, Republic of China, and grew up in Guangzhou, where he studied at Pui Ching Middle School.
When his mother died in Hong Kong in 1942, Pan was unable to attend her funeral because of the war.
[1] After the end of the war, he earned a master's degree from Soochow University Law School in 1948.
He studied the origin and social impact of the ancient Chinese text Canon of Laws, and considered it as influential as the earlier Code of Hammurabi of Babylon.
[1] When he was nearly 80, he accepted an invitation to serve as one of the chief editors of English-Chinese Dictionary of Anglo-American Law (元照英美法词典).