Huang Jin was born in December 1958 in Lichuan, Hubei. He began working in August 1975 and joined the Chinese Communist Party in May 1980. From 1975 to 1978 he worked in Liangwu Commune in Lichuan County and at the county office for educated youth. He studied law at Hubei College of Finance and Economics (now Zhongnan University of Economics and Law) from 1978 to 1982, obtaining a bachelor's degree in law.[2] Between 1982 and 1988, he pursued graduate studies in international law at Wuhan University under Professor Han Depei, earning both his master's and doctoral degrees. He is recognized as the first scholar in China to receive a domestically trained doctoral degree in private international law.[4]
Huang spent the first phase of his academic career at Wuhan University, where he worked from 1984 to 2009. He was promoted to lecturer in 1987, associate professor in 1988, and full professor in 1991.[5] At Wuhan University, he held a series of major academic and administrative positions, including Director of the Institute of International Law, Vice Dean of the School of Law, Assistant to the President, Director of the Academic Affairs Office, Director of the Institute of Higher Education, and later Vice President of the university.[6]
In 2009, Huang moved from Wuhan University to the China University of Political Science and Law, where he served as President from February 2009 to April 2019.[7] During this period, he also assumed several national-level academic roles, such as Vice President of the China Judicial Studies Association (2015), member of the Third Council of the China Foundation for Human Rights Development (2016), and one of the first experts appointed to the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People's Court in August 2018. He stepped down as President and Deputy Party Secretary of CUPL in May 2019.[8]
Huang has continued to play an influential role in the development of international law in China. He serves as Vice President of the China Law Society, President of the Chinese Society of International Law, President of the China Society of Private International Law, and Vice Chairman of the Fourth Council of the China Foundation for Human Rights Development.[9] He has also been appointed as an arbitrator of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and as Vice President of the World Jurist Association. In June 2024, he was elected Senior Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at Wuhan University.[10][11]
