The Chinese myth of Hou Yi resembles Heracles in Greek mythology (or Hercules in Roman mythology), as both were archers who tried to shoot the sun. In the Chinese myth, there were ten suns in the sky that made the world so hot that nothing could grow. Hou Yi shot down nine of them with his bow and arrows and thus saved the earth.
However, the legendary stories about Hou Yi in Chinese ancient books and records have been always contradictory, which has caused long-time debates on the protagonist of the Hou Yi myth. Behind the mysterious stories, there is a splendid history of an ancient archery people living in the East Yi area of ancient China. Hou Yi was the title of the kings of Yi people. These Hou Yi kings made different merits in different times, creating the heroic and moving histories of Yi people. It is said that a person known as the Great Yi united the Eastern Yi people and formed a strong country. As the country was formed by tribes who worshiped, it was, according to the ancient book ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’, known as the country of ‘Ten-sun’.
However, the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ did not have any record on the shooting of nine suns. Instead, another ancient book ‘Huainan Zi’ talked about a person called Yi shot down nine suns. It is generally assumed that Yi referred to Hou Yi, the famous archer in the ancient Chinese mythology. As Hou Yi came from Eastern Yi, it is also believed that Hou Yi and the Great Yi are the same person.
Here is the record from Huainan Zi.
During the time of Yao (a virtuous emperor in ancient fables), ten suns rose into the sky. They burned the crops and scorched the bushes and trees, leaving the ordinary people with nothing to eat.
Monsters began to roam about and cause suffering for the people, including ya yu (a fabled monster which can run quickly, make sounds like the cries of a baby, and eat human flesh), zao chi (or ‘chisel tooth’, a fabled monster who, with three-chi-long teeth, could attack like a dagger-axe and lance), jiu ying (a nine-headed monster, spurting flames and floods), da feng (or ‘big wind’, a kind of ferocious bird, large in size), feng xi (or heavy boar) and python (a long, fierce serpent).
Yao sent Yi to kill chisel-tooth in the wilderness by the Chou Hua lake (a lake in the south) and the nine-headed monster by the Inauspicious River (a river in the north), and shoot the great bird near the marshland by Qing Qiu lake (a lake in the east). Yi then shot down nine suns with his arrow. He killed ya yu, beheaded the python by Dong Ting Lake, and caught the boar at White Mulberry Wood.
Hundreds of thousands of commoners were overjoyed by this and so elected Yao as their king, the ‘Son of Heaven’.
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中国神话后羿射日与希腊罗马神话里的赫尔克里士一样，都是要把太阳射下来的大力射箭手。在中国神话中，天空中有十个太阳，使到地球太热，万物不能生长。后羿以他的弓箭把九个太阳射下来，保存了世界。
但是，历史典籍关于后羿神话的传说互相矛盾，造成了学术界关于后羿神话主人公长期的争论。在这看似复杂的现象背后，记述了一个生活在中国东夷地区的善射民族的辉煌历史。后羿是夷民族的王，不同时代作为王的后羿有不同的功业，共同塑造着羿民族的可歌可泣的历史。据史料记载，大羿统一了东夷各部落方国，组成了一个强大的国家。由于该国家为众多崇拜太阳的部落方国所组成，在《山海经》中被称为“十日国”。
但是，《山海经》并没有关于射下九个太阳的记录。反而另一本古书《淮南子》谈到一个叫做羿的人射下九个太阳的事。一般认为羿就是后羿，那个在中国神话里著名的弓箭手。由于后羿也是东夷人，一般也相信后羿与大羿是同一个人。
以下是《淮南子•本经训》的故事：
‘逮至尧之时，十日并出，焦禾稼，杀草木，而民无所食。猰貐、凿齿、九婴、大风、封豨、修蛇皆为民害。尧乃使羿诛凿齿于畴华之野，杀九婴于凶水之上，缴大风于青丘之泽，上射十日而下杀猰貐，断修蛇于洞庭，擒封希于桑林。万民皆喜。置尧以为天子’。
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