Woven through culture

Traditional looms, once a common sight in every household, now are only used by the elderly Miao.

Huang has written several million words on the Miao people and filmed thousands of hours of footage documenting every detail of their lives and ceremonies.

He has also collected about 16,000 costumes, some of which were made around 300 years ago. Some estimates have valued his collection at more than $80 million, but Huang has never sold a single piece.

Born in Taipei, Huang grew up in an isolated area surrounded by mountains. As a child he often walked into the mountains to spend time with the aboriginal tribes, known as the Gaoshan (high mountain) ethnic minority.

After graduation, Huang established an architecture firm. He helped design landmark buildings across the mainland and Taiwan, including the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Taipei 101 building.

In recent years, he has adapted some of the elements of the Miao people into his design. In Taipei, Huang built a museum named Changhe to exhibit his collections.

"It is a combination of Changjiang (the Yangtze River) and Huanghe (the Yellow River)－both are cradles of Chinese civilization," says Huang.

In 2008, when the University of Hawaii Museum was holding an exhibition in Taiwan, a team from the university visited Huang's museum.