HOU Hongming graduated from Zhejiang University in 1990 and received his Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2000. He has held the positions of Research Trainee and Assistant Researcher at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Assistant Researcher, Secretary of the Communist Youth League Committee, and Deputy Director of the Personnel and Education Office at the Guangzhou Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Guangdong Academy of Sciences; and Director of the Science and Technology Office, Director of the Science, Technology, and Education Office, and Party Branch Secretary at the Guangzhou Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Guangdong Academy of Sciences.

From July 2012 to September 2013, he served as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee (in charge of daily operations) at the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences; from September 2013 to November 2014, he served as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice President of the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences; From November 2014 to September 2016, he served as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection, and Vice President of the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences; from September 2016 to March 2024, he served as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since March 2024, he has served as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Guangzhou Institute of Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences.