Huang's most controversial and difficult, but most critically acclaimed role was in Shanghai Bund (2007), a remake of the 1980 Hong Kong television series The Bund, which starred Chow Yun-fat. Because Chow was his idol, he felt nervous, excited, and pressured about portraying the same role his idol had. In order to play Xu Wenqiang, he had to learn to smoke, and went through several packs a day. The series reported high audience ratings was voted as the most popular TV series in a survey on popular web portal Sina.com. For the role, Huang received Best Actor nominations at the 13th Shanghai Television Festival.