Hou Yi

Author: Ye Zhaofang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: In ancient Chinese mythology, Hou Yi is a legendary hero—he shot down nine suns one after another, bringing favorable weather; he killed numerous man-eating birds and beasts, allowing the people to live in peace and prosperity. But Hou Yi's wife, Chang'e, feared that shooting the suns would provoke the Jade Emperor's wrath, so she stole the immortality pill given to Hou Yi by the Queen Mother of the West—she betrayed Hou Yi, destroying their love, and lived a lonely and desolate life in the Moon Palace alone. In the book "Hou Yi," the renowned writer Ye Zhaofang retells this myth and gives it a fresh modern twist: Chang'e endures hardship and raises the divine heir—Yi, with Chang'e's help, Yi completes his transformation from a god to a human. Chang'e loses favor after Yi becomes an emperor, and when Yi is on the brink of despair, he realizes that only Chang'e's love is his source of strength, leading him to banish Chang'e, allowing her to fly away to escape the chaos—because of Chang'e's love, Yi becomes human; because of Yi's love, Chang'e becomes divine. In Ye Zhaofang's dazzling retelling, plots and love, devotion and greed, loyalty and betrayal, desire and dignity unfold in the novel, presenting us with a colorful mythological world and a heart-wrenching, extraordinary love story. In the midst of the chaos, the female captives were driven to the hillside as war trophies. They were naked and smelled foul, like pigs confined between the railings.