He was the son of Huang Zunsu, an official of the Ming court and an adherent of the Donglin Movement who died in prison after opposing the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian.

The struggle between the Donglin faction and the eunuchs was reaching a climax during this period, and as a result the elder Huang was dismissed from office in 1625 and the two returned home.

When Huang Zunsu was traveling in custody to Beijing in 1626, he introduced his son to Liu Zongzhou, a noted philosopher of the Wang Yangming school.

After the beginning of the Qing dynasty and the rise to power of Ruan Dacheng, arrest warrants were issued for descendants of Donglin members, including Huang Zongxi.

Waiting for the Dawn (Chinese: 明夷待訪錄) was a summary of ideas about political reform that had been advanced by various scholars since the reign of Wanli (1573–1619).

[4] In the sixth and seventh sections of the work, entitled "Selecting Good Men", Huang also lays out his ideas for reform of the Imperial examination system.

In later sections, he discusses equitable distribution of landholdings, the division between men of civil and military background, fiscal reform, and the problem of Eunuch power during the Ming dynasty.