Background and History General Huang Kecheng was born in Yongxing, Hunan, China, and he was the third of four children. His family owned six mu of land. Since he was not the eldest son, his parents did not consider it a great priority to provide a good education for him. He worked as a farm laborer on his family land, and completed high school when he turned 20, in 1920, from the Hunan 3rd Normal School. Huang eventually joined Chiang Kai-shek's New Revolutionary Army, and he joined the Communist Party of China in 1925.

In 1929, Huang was serving under Peng Dehuai in a Kuomintang regiment stationed in northern Hunan. When Peng rebelled in June 1928, Huang joined him. Huang led the Yongxing campaign during Xiangnan (South Hunan) campaign in 1928, and participated major battles encountered by the Red Army Third Division. Huang participated in the Long March, and, upon arrival on northern Shaanxi, he was promoted to be the director of the general political and organizational department

In 1959, Huang criticized the "Great Leap Forward" and "People's Communes" and was denounced as a member of an "Anti-Party group" associated with Peng Dehuai when Peng was criticized at the Lushan Conference. He was deprived of all positions and was placed under investigation. He was partially rehabilitated, but was denounced and persecuted by Red Guards when the Cultural Revolution began in 1966. In 1977, after Deng Xiaoping came to power, Huang was politically rehabilitated. He died on December 28, 1986 in Beijing.