In December 2007, he was named acting mayor of Tianjin, and confirmed a few months later by the municipal People's Congress, replacing Dai Xianglong.

On September 10, 2016, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Huang was undergoing investigation for "serious violations of regulations".

The announcement was shocking to political observers, as Huang had maintained a positive reputation throughout his career and was not widely known to be subject to any kind of controversy.

[6] The removal of Huang from the posts of mayor and acting party chief meant that, remarkably, both party and government leadership positions in Tianjin, considered a highly political important municipality, fell vacant – the first time this has happened in a direct-controlled municipality since the end of the Cultural Revolution.

[7] Wang Dongfeng would eventually take over as mayor, while Li Hongzhong would assume the Tianjin party secretaryship in an official capacity in September.

[8][9] At the conclusion of the internal investigation, the party assigned Huang with a litany of offenses, accusing him of "violating political discipline and political rules, trivializing the directives of the central government, undermining party unity, paid lip service to party policy but did not actually adhere," obstructed the investigation into his own wrongdoing, improperly assisted associates in the promotion evaluation process, let his son take advantage of his position to seek economic gain, did not carry out proper "supervision of his staff".

The party said that Huang's "egregious behavior led to very bad influence" to those around him and "poisoned the Tianjin political environment".

[10] On September 25, 2017, Huang was convicted on charges of bribery by the People's Intermediate Court in Shijiazhuang, and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Court documents showed that he had taken bribes amounting to some 40.03 million yuan, which began during his term as party chief of Taizhou.