Born in Suzhou into a musical family, Huang exhibited great musical talent from a young age.
His father, a strict man, taught him organ and violin, and Huang taught himself a variety of Chinese and Western instruments, including piano, harmonica, erhu, yangqin, jinghu, yueqin and even Beijing and Kun Opera.
[citation needed] He moved to Shanghai in the mid-1930s, where he joined in orchestral recordings for the Pathé label.
He recorded a number of film-scores, and accepted invitations to conduct symphonies in Finland (1956), the USSR (1958) and, at the invitation of Herbert Von Karajan in 1981 Berlin.
[citation needed] He was persecuted and removed from his position in the Cultural Revolution.