His father Huang Hongpei was a factory manager, and his mother Lu Meixian founded the first women’s school in Shanghai.

[4] After his graduation in 1924, Huang went on to study psychology in Oberlin College in Ohio, United States, assisted by the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship.

[5] There, he also composed another overture called "Nostalgia", which was played at the Yale School of Music’s graduation concert.

[6] During this time, he also faced censorship from the Chinese government, and had to change "enemy" for "Japan" in the song's title.

Huang's best-known works include: Philosophical Song (天倫歌); Plum Blossoms in the Snow (踏雪尋梅), a 1933 large cantata based on Bai Juyi's poem Chang hen ge; Flower in the Mist (花非花); Lotus Song (採蓮謠); Benshi (本事).