Huang Lee

Updated 28 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Huang Lee is the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, released for the Nintendo DS in March 2009. The spoiled son of a murdered Triad boss from Hong Kong, he travels to Liberty City to deliver a family sword to his uncle. The sword is stolen on arrival, and Huang sets out to find who took it and who killed his father.

Who is the main character in GTA Chinatown Wars?

Huang Lee is the lead of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, a handheld game first made for the Nintendo DS. It is set in the same Liberty City as GTA IV.

The GTA Wiki describes Huang as a rich, spoiled young man from Hong Kong, born around 1983. His father was a Triad boss, and Huang spent his life living off the family's money and name. He jokes that he bought his friends instead of making them. That changes when his father is murdered in Kowloon before the game begins.

Story

Huang's father had won an heirloom sword, the Yu Jian, in a card game. After his death, Huang flies to Liberty City to deliver the sword to his uncle, Wu "Kenny" Lee. Kenny hopes to hand it to the Triad leader Hsin Jaoming to secure his place as Hsin's successor.

Things go wrong as soon as he arrives. Huang is attacked, the sword is stolen and he is left for dead. He survives and turns up at Kenny's door. Kenny puts him to work, and that pulls Huang into the drug trade and the power struggle inside the Triads.

Huang takes jobs from Kenny and from Triad rivals Zhou Ming and Chan Jaoming, Hsin's son, while searching for the sword and for a police informant inside the gang. He also works with two detectives: the corrupt cop Wade Heston and Lester Leroc, a private investigator hired by Hsin.

How does Chinatown Wars end?

The truth points back to the family. Huang discovers that Kenny leads the rival Wonsu gang and that he killed Huang's father to get the sword. In the final scenes, Kenny stabs Hsin with the Yu Jian. Huang kills Kenny and avenges his father.

Heston then arrests Hsin and lets Huang go. Before he is taken away, Hsin offers to name Huang the next leader of the Triads. Huang says nothing. The game leaves his answer open.

Gameplay and style

The DS version has a cel-shaded, comic-book look, with black outlines around its polygons. The later PSP version drops the cel-shading for a more traditional look, but keeps the original style in its cutscenes. The drug trade is central to the story and to Huang's work for Kenny.

Reception

The game was a critical success. Wikipedia reports a Metacritic score of 93 for the DS version and 91 for iOS. Huang was one of three new GTA leads released in 2009, alongside Johnny Klebitz and Luis Lopez, all set in Liberty City.