Keh-Chih Hwang (黄克智) was born on 21 July 1927, in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province, China, in a family deeply rooted in Confucian tradition. His great-grandfather was a famous medical doctor in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province. His grandfather, Xie Huang, passed the imperial examination in the late Qing Dynasty, and was awarded the title Xiu-Cai (秀才), as well as a lectureship in English and basic sciences at Nanchang Normal College. This position brought the family to Nanchang, where later K.C.’s father, Yi-Cheng Huang, would work at a post office for more than 40 years. K.C.’s mother, Shen-Xiu Gong, was a traditional Chinese wife with an intellectual background. She left no stone unturned for good education of her nine children, on a meager salary of her husband.

K.C.’s long life has been intertwined with major events in a turbulent world. During the Japanese invasion (1937-1945), the large Huang family was forced to drift from place to place in Jiangxi Province. K.C. had just finished primary school, and had to switch middle schools in three counties. The first school, Yangming School in Ji’an, was destroyed in an air raid in 1938. He often could not afford tuition and had to walk 50 km to school. The harsh life only made him more determined to excel. He finished middle school a year early, and entered the Provincial High School.