In conclusion, we demonstrated the antitumour effects of HF on HCC cells in vitro and in vivo, and confirmed that HF significantly suppressed cell proliferation by G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and subsequently induced cell apoptosis through the activation of mtROS/JNK/caspase‐mediated intrinsic apoptotic pathways and the inhibition of NF‐κB signalling pathway in HCC. Here, MAPK8 is linked to hydrops fetalis.