[3] Huang's sculpture "Study of a Head" (頭像 ‘tóuxiàng’) was the first modern work of art in Taiwan that was declared a part of the island's cultural heritage that is protected by a new law passed in 2009.
[14] When Huang Ching-cheng had departed for Tokyo in 1936, the Second Sino-Japanese war was less than a year away, and the terrible Nanking massacre would happen in November 1937.
"[16] The fact that in an expensive city like Tokyo, his brother's financial support proved insufficient had a good side effect.
Generally speaking, Ludwig van Beethoven and Auguste Rodin stood for modernism at the time, as Y.-L. Hsueh points out.
[26] Huang's choice of Beethoven turns out to be in line with this tradition, that “certain cultural heroes often find favor with Chinese artists (…)" because it allows them to take a stand.
Among the few sculptures of Huang Ching-cheng that are known to have survived World War II and that are exhibited in museums in Taiwan, there is a bust that is titled "My Girlfriend Guei-shiang".
[28] It is part of the collection of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung (Guólì Táiwān měishùguǎn/ Táizhōng shì 國立台灣美術館 / 台中市).
[29] In 1937, Huang Ching-cheng teamed up with graduate students at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts to form an artist group that would organize joint exhibitions.
Each year, exhibitions of our studies shall not be fixed in numbers but shall be held when and where suitable (…)”[34] Hsien-tsung Lai refers to the group as “anti-establishment.”[32] Jen-yi Lai specifically refers to the “Bohemian spirit” revealed in the works of one painter of this group, Jui-Lin Hung (Hóng Ruìlín 洪瑞麟), whom she singles out.
This was the so-called MOUVE spirit.”[36] Clearly, “the name was a symbol of avant-garde and of youth.”[37] On 19 March 1938, the artists who had formed the new group, Chang Wan-chuan (Zhāng Wànchuán 張萬傳), Hung Jui-Lin (Hóng Ruìlín 洪瑞麟), Chen De-wang (Chén Déwàng 陳德旺), Chi-ch’eng Lu (Lǚ Jīzhèng 呂基正), Chunde Chen (Chén Chūndé 陳春德), Huang Ching-cheng, and Liu-jen Teng (Děng Liùrén 等六人) had their first group exhibition.
"[39] Oil on canvas was preferred to ink and to water color techniques by a majority of modernist East Asian artists.
He writes, “If we look at Huang Ching-cheng's work – "Black Woman" 黑衣女人 (hēi yī nǚrén), we get what may be described as a very direct sense of his use of color, which is very different from that found in the artistic environment of that era.”[41] Lai also praises Huang when he speaks of “the mysterious painting, ‘Black Woman’ (...).”[42] In 1939, sculptures by Huang Ching-cheng and by another Taiwanese artist, Chen Xiayu 陳夏雨, were accepted by a jury and “included in the Imperial Exhibition” (Teiten Empire Exhibition or Imperial Exhibition, in Japanese: 帝展.)
[44] Those who participated in this group exhibition (in Taiwan rather than Tokyo) were “Yün-teng Lan (Lán Yùndēng藍 運燈), Yen Shui-long (Yán Shuǐlóng顏水龍) and Cho-sao Fan (Fàn Zhuōzào范倬造), in addition to the remaining original members.
"[44] A year later, "MOUVE ran (…) out of steam, winding things up in a frenzy like a whirlwind, and it soon disappeared without a trace, after having recorded the flowering and frustration of the opposition faction of Taiwan's art world.
"[44] Whereas other MOUVE artists like Jui-lin Hung had already returned to Taiwan for good, Huang Ching-cheng remained based in Tokyo.
In 1943, Huang Ching-cheng was offered a teaching position at the Beiping Art School in Peking which was then a city occupied by the Japanese army.
[48] Planning to go to Taiwan first, the artist boarded “the passenger liner Takachiho Maru in Kobe, Japan" together with Guixiang Li.
The fact that Huang Ching-cheng died prematurely may have saved him from suffering the fate of artists and writers who became victims of political repression.
The rebellious Jui-lin Hung, a leading figure of the MOUVE group, who had returned before 1943, became a miner and for several years could not afford oil colors and canvas.
He was accused of “espionage in 1951 and (…) executed the next year.” According to Hsiao, this “event influenced avant-garde artists who were promoting modern art at that time.
Chuang Shih-ho was admonished and forced to move back to Ping-Tung (i.e., Pingtung City or Píng dōng 屏東) (…) Ho Tieh-hua, on the other hand, (…) left for America in 1959 for good.
[52] Today, many art historians and artists in Taiwan agree on Huang's pioneering role, as a modernist Taiwan-born sculptor.