When he was young, he was one of a group of friends who associated with Gao Huan, who often spent time in the countryside, seeking to correct injustice.

After Erzhu largely put down the rebellions, Hou was made the governor of Ding Province (定州, roughly modern Baoding, Hebei).

But Hou was arrogant, and he often compared two other key generals, Pan Le (潘樂) and Gao Aocao (高敖曹), to wild boars in their charges.

Gao did not accept his advice, and was defeated by Yuwen Tai at the Battle of Shayuan (沙苑, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), suffering heavy losses — partly because Hou gave the poor tactical advice that Gao should not try to set fires against Yuwen's troops.

In late 546, believing that Gao Huan was dead or near death, Hou began to prepare to rebel, and he did so in spring 547.

Hou refused, and he tried to persuade a number of Western Wei generals to join him, but only Ren Yue (任約) did, with a minor army.

However, against the advice of the senior general Yang Kan (羊侃), Xiao Yuanming did not quickly siege Pengcheng, but merely waited, pondering his next move.

Hou cautioned him against Murong, and also informed him that if he defeated Eastern Wei troops, he should not chase them too hastily, lest he fall into a trap.

By the end of 547, Hou's army had run out of food supplies, and one of the generals who first supported him, Sima Shiyun (司馬世雲), surrendered to Murong.

Hou himself considered what his next action would be, and he, under advice from the Liang commander Liu Shenmao (劉神茂), ambushed and seized the Liang acting governor of Southern Yu Province (南豫州, modern central Anhui), Wei An (韋黯), taking control of Southern Yu Province's capital city Shouyang (壽陽, in modern Lu'an, Anhui).

Meanwhile, Gao Cheng started peace negotiations with Emperor Wu, offering to return Xiao Yuanming and intending to cause Hou to become apprehensive.

Emperor Wu commissioned his son Xiao Guan (蕭綸) the Prince of Shaoling to lead a four-pronged attack on Shouyang, believing that he could put out Hou's rebellion quickly.

Meanwhile, Hou, with advice from his strategist Wang Wei, decided he should not wait for Xiao Guan to close in; instead, he made a speedy march toward the capital Jiankang, surprising Emperor Wu.

In winter 548, he arrived at Jiankang and immediately put the capital under siege, quickly capturing the outer city with Xiao Zhengde's help and forcing the imperial troops to withdraw into the palace to defend it.

The reinforcements soon arrived, and the provincial generals supported Liu Zhongli (柳仲禮) as their commander, preparing an assault on Hou's troops to lift the siege.

However, Hou soon decided that peace would not be sustainable, and once the ceasefire had lasted sufficiently long for him to obtain additional food supplies, he reneged, accusing Emperor Wu of a number of faults, and putting the palace again under siege.

Hou deposed Xiao Zhengde back to the rank of Prince of Linhe and used Emperor Wu as token authority.

Due to the wars, the territory under Hou's control suffered from a serious famine, and he ruled with the people with a heavy hand.

Xiao Guan, not willing to engage Wang, abandoned Jiangxia and fled to Ru'nan (汝南, in modern Jingmen, Hubei), where he entered into an alliance with Eastern Wei's successor state Northern Qi (with Gao Cheng's brother Gao Yang having seized the throne in summer 550) and was created the Prince of Liang as well.

Additionally, Hou made Emperor Jianwen promote him to the position of "General of the Universe Past, Present, and Future, Commander of all Forces in the Six Directions" (宇宙大將軍、都督六合諸軍事).

Hou personally led troops to aid Ren, leaving Wang Wei in charge of Jiankang.

While Hou was away from Jiankang, Emperor Wu's grandson Xiao Huili (蕭會理) the Prince of Nankang organized a plot to overthrow Wang Wei.

Xu initially had success against Hou, but in summer 551, Hou surprised Xu by bypassing him and making a surprise attack on Jiangxia, capturing it and seizing the general Bao Quan (鮑泉) and Xiao Yi's son Xiao Fangzhu (蕭方諸), eventually putting them to death in cruel manners.

Hou, instead of attacking Xiao Yi's headquarters at Jiangling directly, put Baling under siege but was unable to capture it, and his food supplies began to run low.

Soon, with Wang Sengbian aided by another general, Chen Baxian, Xunyang fell to Xiao Yi's forces as well.

Hou put these generals to death in cruel manners—cutting off Yuan and Li's arms and feet and then demonstrating them to the public for more than a day until they died, and he made a rolling pin with sharp swords on it to cut Liu to pieces alive.

Against Wang Wei's advice to defend Jiankang, Hou Jing abandoned it and fled, commenting: Hou put his two young sons, born during the time he was at Jiankang, into saddle bags and drowned them,[5] and then fled east, intending to join Xie's army to the east.

Hou Jing took his remaining boats and fled on the Yangtze River, throwing his two sons into the water to drown.

He ordered that the boats head to Mengshan (蒙山), an island off the modern Shandong coast—apparently intending to return to the north.

When Hou woke up, he tried to give contrary orders, but Yang killed him with a spear and delivered his body to Jingkou.