Considered to have laid the foundation for modern infectious disease prevention and control technology systems in China.

[2][3] From an early age, Hou decided to study medicine, after watching his elder brother die from infectious disease.

[3] In 1958, After graduating from the Wuhan Medical School he studied at the Ivanovsky Institute of Virology [ru] in the USSR for 4 years.

[3] he laid the foundation for China's molecular virus research and created the first Chinese genetically engineered drugs.

[8] After the restrictions on businesses were relaxed in the 1990s, Hou started one of the first Chinese genetic engineering drug companies.