Tang Huang was born in Shanghai in 1916 and graduated from the National University of Politics in Nanjing. In 1939 he joined the Central Motion Picture Company (Zhongdian), filming newsreels and documentaries for eight years, among them works on the war effort. In 1949 he directed his first fiction film, The Dream Seeker, for Central Motion Picture's No.1 studio, where he was also assistant studio manager. He came to Hong Kong after 1949, and his first Hong Kong film was Diary of a Husband (co-directed with Lo Wei, 1953); he then directed The Story of a Famous Woman (co-directed with Evan Yang, 1953), which made the actress Li Mei's name. He joined Asia Film Company, backed by the American Asia Foundation, directing Tradition (1955), The Golden Robe (1956), Love and Sin (1957) and A House Full of Fragrance (1957). When Asia Film closed in 1957 he directed for the Shaws, then in 1958 joined Motion Picture & General Investment (MP & GI), making Her Tender Heart (1959), one of his signature films. From 1958 to 1971 he directed more than thirty films for MP & GI and its successor Cathay, including The Darling of the Clouds (1959), The June Bride (1960), Sister Long Legs (1960), Mother and Daughter (1960), Strange Tales of Liaozhai (1965) and Sun Wukong Storms Hong Kong (1969), his last being King of Snakes Versus King of Hell (1973). After Cathay stopped production in Hong Kong in 1971 he went to Taiwan, then moved into television in 1972, joining Rediffusion and later Commercial Television, where he produced Ting Yeh, a series based on the life of the Shanghai gangster Du Yuesheng. He died of a heart attack in his office on 29 September 1976.
Tang Huang moved from newsreels to feature films, and after settling in Hong Kong directed more than thirty Mandarin pictures for MP & GI and Cathay between 1958 and 1971, handling romance and melodrama with a delicate touch in films such as Her Tender Heart and The June Bride. In later years he worked in television for Rediffusion and Commercial Television, producing Ting Yeh, a drama based on the life of Du Yuesheng.
Achievements
- 1949 · Directed his first fiction film, The Dream Seeker, for Central Motion Picture's No.1 studio.
- 1959 · Directed Her Tender Heart after joining MP & GI, one of his signature works.
- 1975 · Moved to Commercial Television and produced Ting Yeh, based on the life of Du Yuesheng.