How many suns did the archer Houyi shoot down? Houyi shot down nine suns.
In Chinese mythology, ten suns once appeared in the sky at the same time, scorching the earth, drying up crops, and causing widespread suffering. Houyi, a legendary archer, was ordered to stop the disaster. He shot nine of the suns, leaving one to illuminate the world normally.
The myth explains why the ordinary world has a single sun while also presenting Houyi as a heroic protector of humanity. In many versions, the surviving sun continues its daily journey across the sky. The story is closely connected with Chang'e, Houyi's wife: after his feat, he received an elixir of immortality, which became central to the legend of her ascent to the Moon.
A common mistake is answering ten, because ten suns appear in the opening crisis. Houyi does not destroy all ten; he removes nine and deliberately leaves one.