Hou Hui

Hou Hui, born in Tianjin in March 1949, is a professor and master's supervisor at the School of Literature, Capital Normal University. His teaching and research center on Ming and Qing literature, with a particular emphasis on vernacular fiction; he has devoted considerable attention to tracing the sources of classical novels and to close reading of their texts. His scholarly books include New Evidence on the Sources of Water Margin, Tracing the Sources of Water Margin and Journey to the West, and Food and Money in The Plum in the Golden Vase, which approach their subjects through textual editions, source materials, and economic life, showing a solid grounding in documentary research. Hou also values bringing literature to a wider public: his young readers' books, such as Chinese Literary Classics Told to Children, have been widely welcomed, bringing specialist knowledge closer to ordinary readers. His Silver-Charactered Water Margin is likewise a work of cultural writing, continuing his sustained engagement with Water Margin and the vernacular novel tradition.