(b Nanjing, 26 Dec 1927; d Beijing, 8 May 1997). Chinese musicologist. After the Communist ‘Liberation' of 1949 he joined the theory and composition department of the Central Conservatory of Music in 1950, moving to the Music Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts in 1958. Although academic and social life were disrupted by the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), he managed to do some important work on archaeological finds in this period. He served as director of the Music Research Institute from 1985 until his retirement in 1988, taking over the mantle of Yang Yinliu as mentor for Chinese musicologists.
Huang is best known as a historical musicologist – his work on pre-Qin music archaeology, notably the set of bells from the 433 bce tomb of the Marquis Yi of the Zeng state, is seminal, and he was chief editor of the monumental Zhongguo yinyue wenwu daxi (‘Compendium of Chinese musical artefacts’), which began to appear only after his death. However, his monographs offer great insights into a wide range of music throughout Chinese history, and the deepest enduring influence of his work is his constant concern to relate living folk Chinese traditions of vocal and instrumental music to early material on scales and temperament, melody and notations.
See also China, §II, 1.
Chuantong shi yitiao heliu [Tradition is a flowing stream] (Beijing, 1990)
Suliu tanyuan: Zhongguo chuantong yinyue yanjiu [Tracing the stream to its source: studies of traditional Chinese music] (Beijing, 1993)
Zhongguo gudai yinyue shi, fenqi yanjiu ji youguan xin cailiao, xin wenti [History of Chinese music: studies in periodization and new relevant material and issues] (Taibei, 1997)
Zhongguorende yinyue he yinyuexue [Music and musicology of the Chinese] (Ji'nan, 1997)
STEPHEN JONES