Hou Yi

Lore & Background

In Chinese mythology, there were originally ten suns—sons or grandsons of the Jade Emperor in some versions. They normally crossed the sky one by one, but one day they all appeared at once, scorching the earth. Hou Yi was tasked by Emperor Yao (or the Jade Emperor) to rein them in. After reasoning and intimidation failed, he shot them down one by one; each fallen sun turned into a three-legged crow. Only one sun was spared, either at the request of Emperor Yao or because the final arrow was taken away.

Reader's Guide

Hou Yi's significance lies in his role as a culture hero who restored balance to the natural world by eliminating nine suns and slaying or imprisoning mythical beasts such as the Yayu, Zaochi, Jiuying, Dafeng, Fengxi, and Xiushe. His story also includes the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival through his wife Chang'e's consumption of the immortality pill. However, the lore is not uniform: some versions portray him as a tyrant after becoming king, and the Chu Ci records that he killed the god Hebo and took his wife Luoshen. Historical references conflate him with a tribal leader who attacked the Xia dynasty and was later deposed by his lieutenant Han Zhuo. Recent research suggests the sun-shooting legend may have originated from a miswriting of Hou Yi shooting Xiang.

Did You Know?

• Hou Yi is sometimes portrayed as a god of archery or a xian descended from heaven.
• The fallen suns turned into three-legged crows.
• Hou Yi's apprentice Feng Meng killed Hou Yi with a peachwood club while he was hunting or returning home, and the pill of immortality was taken by Chang'e after Hou Yi's death or while he was away.
• According to the Bamboo Annals, Hou Yi attacked the Xia dynasty during King Taikang's reign.

From Trainee to Solo: Forging an Identity

Hou Minghao, born in Beijing on 3 August 1997 and known as Neo Hou, first entered the industry as a trainee at South Korea's SM Entertainment in 2012. After roughly a year and a half of training, he returned to China. In mid-2014 he competed in the draft show 'Boss Shang's Trainee' and joined Shang Wenjie's Studio, later part of BG Talent. That December, Fresh Teenager Geek debuted with their album UP 4 U. By late 2015 he landed his first film role as Su Niu in the black-comedy Frightened Bird. The turning point came in January 2016, when his studio confirmed he had fulfilled all trainee obligations and could work independently. He quickly became a familiar face on Hunan TV's Day Day Up, where viewers dubbed him 'Little Brother,' and in July released his first solo single, 'Super Nanny Dad.' The rest of 2016 was a whirlwind: Rakshasa Street entered production, he played the cleanliness-obsessed Xiao Shuai in Funny Soccer, and portrayed a punk-rock teenager in the web movie Angel Institute.

2017: A Year of Unprecedented Range

2017 was arguably the most prolific and diverse year of his career. He opened the year by being cast as the main lead in the suspense series Inference Notes, a role that would not air until November. In March he stunned audiences as Tang Chuan, a high-IQ genius, in the theatrical film The Devotion of Suspect X, earning praise for both his performance and interpretation. May brought the web series Cambrian Period, in which he played a ruthless killer; the show ultimately amassed 1.3 billion views by the end of its run. August marked his first foray into period costume drama with Rakshasa Street, where he portrayed Bai Jingxuan. He then appeared in The Monkey King: Land of Beauty in September before returning to the modern-day suspense world as Mi Kaka in Inference Notes in November. By December, he had already been announced as the lead in the upcoming youth drama When We Were Young. In a single twelve-month span, Hou moved between a genius, a ruthless killer, an ancient-costume hero, and a quirky young man, demonstrating a range that few actors his age could match.

The Billion-View Era and Industry Consolidation

From 2018 through 2022, Hou Minghao established himself as one of China's most bankable young leads. His all-English single 'You Mean Everything To Me,' released in March 2018 after a year of personal preparation, showed his commitment to connecting with fans beyond acting. That November, When We Were Young aired, casting him as the passionate science genius Hua Biao; the series closed with 1.8 billion views. The following year was a landmark: The Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note, in which he played Wu Xie, surpassed 4.15 billion views on Tencent Video and topped the summer programming charts. He also starred in the film Over Again as the daring teenager Gao Silin and later took on the amnesiac house-buyer Jiang Shuo in Psych-Hunter. The 2020-2021 stretch saw him lead A Girl Like Me (1.6 billion views), Our Times (1.9 billion views), and People's Property (1.6 billion views). In December 2021 he signed with Hesong Entertainment, and by September 2022 Hu Tong had gathered 1.27 billion views across Mango TV, Tencent Video, and CCTV-8.

Streaming Dominance and Global Footprint

Entering 2023, Hou's work continued to command massive audiences while expanding his international reach. In May, Back from the Brink premiered on Youku, where he played Tian Yao; the drama attracted 3.39 million pre-broadcast reservations and repeatedly held the top spot on Youku's popularity charts with a playback index above 10,000. Just two months later, the action film Hidden Strike launched on Netflix, marking a notable step onto a global streaming platform. August brought I Am Nobody, in which he portrayed the Taoist priest Wang Ye; the urban-fantasy series earned positive critical and audience reviews, crossed the 10,000 heat index, and surpassed 1 billion views on Youku. He then began principal photography on Fangs of Fortune in October and made a cameo as the Demon King Baimu Yaojun in Love in Pavilion in December. Into 2024, he filmed the sequel I Am Nobody: The Showdown Between Yin & Yang and was cast as Hong Ye, the feared and revered king of demons, in The Unclouded Soul, underscoring his continued trajectory toward leading high-profile fantasy projects.