Among the characters described in the play ‘the peach Blossom fan’, I find Hou Fang-Yu to be the most interesting. In the play, he is depicted as a hero, scholar and official who later gets married to the Fragrant Princess. His two best friends are Ch’en Chen Hui and Wu Ying-Chi. Hou is seen as a great fan of story listening and doesn’t really care what is happening around him as we see him going to Liu Jing ting’s house for his normal story telling sessions. This is in spite of the fact that Zuo Lianngyu is planning to attack his home town, Nanjing. He is also depicted as a source of wise solutions for problems facing his community as the minister of war in Nanjing sends word to him through Yang that he gives him a plan of action. The minister for war does not know what to do and therefore he seeks help from Hou Fangyu. At first, he plays down his ability on helping the minister for war but later shows his creativity when he writes a very important letter to stop the invasion of Nanjing by the Zuo’s army on his father’s behalf.
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His strength is that he is very diligent and writes an excellent letter to Zuo in pretence that it is his father so as to avoid the invasion of his country. His diligence also makes him an official in governing his country. His greatest weakness is exemplified by the fact that he is not willing to run away for his safety from the wrath of Ruan Dacheng. Therefore, he is blinded by love.
He is mainly motivated by the love for his country and its people and therefore he is always willing to help when confronted to do so. His willingness to learn new things also helps him to have the urge of living in his country. He is driven by honesty and even claims that he hasn’t wronged Ruan in any way and doesn’t see the need to escape.
In the course of the play, Hou is able to change some of his attributes in order to conform to the situation facing him. For example, after persuasion by his wife, he agrees to escape and drops his pride and manliness.