His name translates as Lord of Millet and was a title granted to him by Emperor Shun, according to Records of the Grand Historian.

[7][8] Another account simply make him one of Ku's four sons, each prophesied to father a family of emperors over China.

[9] He was held to have been repeatedly abandoned by his mother, but saved each time – in the street, by draft animals; in the forest, by woodcutters; on the ice, by a great bird.

[8] Houji was also claimed as an ancestor of the Zhou royal family and honored in their Book of Songs: the Sheng Min ("Birth of Our People") is counted as one of the work's Great Hymns.

[10] Although historians such as Sima Qian took a more rationalist approach to his life, making him a natural son of Emperor Ku and a regular official of the Xia court, Houji was honored not just as a culture hero[citation needed] but also as a patron god of abundant harvests.