Huang Zongying

Biography

Huang Zongying was born in Beijing in 1925 into a prominent scholarly family originally from Ruian, Zhejiang. Her father was an electrical engineer who studied in Japan, but his death when she was nine plunged the family into poverty. Influenced by her older brother Huang Zongjiang, a playwright, she published her first essay at age nine. At sixteen, she moved to Shanghai and joined the Shanghai Professional Drama Troupe. She began her acting career in 1941 with the Huang Zuolin Drama Troupe, gaining fame through the comedy "Sweet Sister." She later transitioned to film, appearing in notable works such as "Crow and Sparrow" and "The Life of Wu Xun." In the mid-1950s she began writing screenplays, then developed into a celebrated reportage writer. She won the National Outstanding Reportage Literature Award three times from the Chinese Writers Association for works including "Wild Goose Feelings," "Beautiful Eyes," "Orange," and "The Small Cabin." She married four times, most notably to actor Zhao Dan, with whom she was jointly selected as one of the "100 Outstanding Actors in Chinese Cinema History" in 2005. She passed away in December 2020 at the age of 95.