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The legend of Chang’e – the bunny-girl in the moon

As those of you in China will probably be well aware from the enormous quantities of moon-cakes stacked from floor to ceiling in all supermarkets, mid-autumn festival is almost upon us.  Although a certain 60th anniversary has slightly overshadowed it this year, the ‘full-moon’ festival will still be celebrated up and down the middle kingdom in various different ways, including the eating of ‘moon cakes’ and the worshipping of the moon god ‘Chang’e.  The tale of Chang’e and her husband Houyi is an ancient eastern classic, and like most other Chinese fairytales there are many versions.  One of the most commonly told is as follows:

Chang’e was a beautiful young girl working up in heaven where immortals and other good folk lived, ruled over by the all-powerful Jade Emperor. One day, she accidentally broke a precious porcelain jar. Angered, the Jade Emperor banished her to live on earth, and Chang’e was transformed into the daughter of a poor farming family. When she was 18, she met a young hunter from another village called Houyi, and they became lovers.

One day, a strange phenomenon occurred – 10 suns arose in the sky instead of one, scorching the planet and everyone on it.  Houyi, an expert archer, stepped forward to try and save the earth.  He successfully shot down nine of the suns, becoming an instant hero and eventually becoming a King and marrying Chang’e.  However, King Houyi grew to become a tyrant.  Seeking immortality, he ordered an elixir be created to prolong his life. This elixir was in the form of a single pill given to him by the Earth Mother of the West, who warned him that to gain immortality he should only take half the pill.

King Houyi stored the pill in a case, and one day Chang’e happened to come across this mysterious box.  Much like Pandora in Greek mythology she opened it, and (depending on the version) deliberately or accidentally swallowed the pill. This angered King Houyi, who went after his wife. Trying to flee she jumped out a window at the top of palace, and because of the pill’s effects instead of falling she floated into the sky and all the way to the moon.  Although Chang’e was lonely on the moon, she did have a rabbit to keep her company, who according to legend spends all of eternity mixing the elixir of eternal youth.

On mid-autumn festival day (this year falling on the 3^rd of October), an altar is set up in the open air facing the moon to worship the beauty of Chang’e, and most Chinese eat Moon Cakes to celebrate.  Moon Cakes symbolize the full moon, and are intrinsically linked with the mid-autumn festival and Chang’e.  Traditional moon cakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for “longevity” or “harmony” as well as the name of the bakery and the cake filling.

This legend is deeply etched into the hearts and minds of the Chinese, and China’s first moon probe was named Chang’e 1 in honour of the goddess.  However, the story of Chang’e is not just limited to Chinese space travel; before America’s first moon landing in 1969, this conversation between the shuttle Apollo’s mission control in Houston and astronaut Michael Collins on board the ship took place:

Houston: “Among the headlines concerning Apollo this morning there’s one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. An ancient legend says a beautiful Chinese girl called Chang-o has been living there for 4000 years. It seems she was banished to the moon because she stole the pill for immortality from her husband. You might also look for her companion, a large Chinese rabbit.  The name of the rabbit is not recorded”.

Collins: “Okay, we’ll keep a close eye for the bunny girl”.