Hou Yi is the great archer who saves the world from excessive suns in Chinese mythology. His name is also written Yi, and early texts do not always distinguish the divine archer from other figures named Yi. The famous version says ten suns appear together and ruin the earth.
Ten suns in the sky
The suns are often described as children of Di Jun and Xihe who normally take turns crossing the sky. When all ten rise at once, crops burn and water dries. Yi shoots down nine, leaving one to preserve daylight. Some early accounts say he shoots the suns without giving the familiar count.
Other feats
Texts credit Yi with defeating dangerous creatures and restoring habitable order. He may receive the medicine of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West. Stories then connect the medicine with his wife Chang’e, whose journey to the moon has several motives.
Myth, rulers, and names
Chinese historical traditions also know figures called Yi, including a ruler or archer linked with the Xia. Similar names led later writers to combine biographies. Hou Yi’s solar feat belongs to mythic literature and cannot be used as a dated record of an astronomical disaster.