He worked with Lee Hsing for many of his films in the late 1970s, including He Never Gives Up, Good Morning Taipei (早安台北; 1979), The Story of A Small Town (小城故事; 1979), and My Native Land (原鄉人; 1980).
[1] Starting from 1979, Chen Kun-hou and Hou Hsiao-hsien teamed up to produce six films in the style of romantic urban comedy by taking turns to be the director, four of which directed by Chen are Spring in Autumn (天涼好個秋; 1980), Lover on the Wave (我踏浪而來; 1980), Longing (蹦蹦一串心; 1981),[1] and Six Is Company (俏如彩蝶飛飛飛; 1982) and the other two directed by Hou are Cute Girl (就是溜溜的她; 1980) and Cheerful Wind (風兒踢踏踩; 1982).
These films copied the successful formula of Qiong Yao’s literary romantic films to cast popular stars, such as Chin Han (秦漢), Kenny Bee (鍾鎮濤), Joan Lin (林鳳嬌), Feng Fei-fei (鳳飛飛), and Shen Yan (沈雁), to present light-hearted urban romance accompanied by namesake theme songs and other interlude songs.
In 1982, Chen Kun-hou, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hsu Shu-zhen (許淑真), and Chang Hua-kun (張華坤) formed Evergreen Film Company (萬年青影業公司).
[3] After Chen Kun-hou parted ways with Hou Hsiao-hsien, he was productive as a key director of the Taiwan New Cinema and made six films, mostly adaptations of literary works, from 1984 to 1988, including Out of The Blue (小爸爸的天空; 1984), His Matrimony, My Favorite Season, Drifters (流浪少年路; 1986), Osmanthus Alley, My Mother's Teahouse (春秋茶室; 1988).