| Chang'e | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 The paintingThe Moon Goddess Chang E, dated to around 1500 (Ming dynasty) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 嫦娥 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Chang the Beautiful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Heng'e | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 姮娥 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Heng the Beautiful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chang'e (/ˈtʃɑːŋ.ə/CHAHNG-ə;Chinese:嫦娥;pinyin:Cháng'é), originally known asHeng'e (姮娥;Héng'é), is thegoddess of the Moon and wife ofHou Yi, the great archer. Renowned for her beauty, Chang'e is also known for ascending to the Moon with her pet Yu Tu, theMoon Rabbit and living in the Moon Palace (廣寒宮). She is one of the major goddesses inChinese mythology,Chinese folk religion,Chinese Buddhism,Confucianism, andTaoism. In modern times, Chang'e is the namesake of theChinese Lunar Exploration Program.
Chang'e first appeared inGuicang, a divination text written during theZhou Dynasty (1046 BC – 256 BC). From the few preserved fragments of the text, it mentions "Yi shoots the ten Suns",[1] and "Chang'e ascending to the moon."[1] Chang'e—originally namedHeng'e (姮娥)—was renamed to avoid thetaboo on sharing names with a deceased emperor,[2] in this case,Liu Heng, an emperor fromHan Dynasty. Many Chinese poems are written around the theme of Chang'e and the moon.
Inpre-Qin Dynasty (before 221 BC), the text "Classic of Mountains and Seas" (山海經), mentions "a woman is bathing the moon; she is Chang Xi, the wife of Emperor Jun. She has given birth to twelve moons, and only then does she begin to bathe the moon" (有女子方浴月，帝俊妻常羲生月十二，此始浴之。).[3] The name "Chang Xi" in this text refers to "Chang'e" since the pronunciation of "e (娥)" is identical to "xi (羲)" in ancient Chinese.[4]
LateTang Dynasty (618–907), famous poet,Li Shangyin, wrote the poem "Chang'e" based on the story of Chang'e stealing theimmortal elixir. Like this goddess, the poet discovers a connection in the solitude of moonlight, sensing their shared loneliness while gazing at the night sky. Among the hundreds of poems around Chang'e and the Moon, she gradually evolved into a symbol of nostalgia and solitude[5] for numerous poets beyond Li.
The original poem inTraditional Chinese:
嫦娥
雲母屏風燭影深，長河漸落曉星沉。
嫦娥應悔偷靈藥，碧海青天夜夜心。
The translation byWitter Bynner, in his bookThe Jade Mountain:
To the Moon Goddess[6]
Now that a candle-shadow stands on the screen of carven marble
And the River of Heaven slants and the morning stars are low,
Are you sorry for having stolen the potion that has set you
Over purple seas and blue skies, to brood through the long nights?
During theMing and Qing dynasties (Ming: 1368–1644, Qing: 1644–1911), with the flourishing of urban literature, the image of Chang'e gradually became more secularized. In the novelJourney to the West (西遊記, 1592), Chang'e is a title that refers to the celestial maidens in the Moon Palace, and it is the Weathervane Marshal who teases the Niche Dress Fairy, not Chang'e. InStrange Stories from a Chinese Studio (聊齋志異, 1766), while Chang'e remains a celestial being from heaven, her character undergoes a transformation as she descends to the mortal realm, shedding her divinity.
There are many tales about Chang'e, including a well-known story about her that is given as the origin of theMid-Autumn Festival.[7]
In a very distant past, Chang'e was a beautiful woman. Ten suns had risen together into the skies and scorched the Earth, thus causing hardship for the people.[7]Hou Yi, a legendary archer and the husband of Chang'e, shot down nine of them, leaving just one Sun, and was rewarded with two portions of theelixir of immortality.[7] As he did not want to gain immortality without his beloved wife, Hou Yi waited to consume the elixir and left it with his wife, Chang'e.[8] While Hou Yi went hunting, his apprenticeFengmeng broke into his house and tried to force Chang'e to give him the elixir, so Chang'e took both portions herself rather than giving them up to Fengmeng. Then, Chang'e flew upward past the heavens, choosing the Moon to be her immortal residence as she loved her husband and wished to live near him.[7] When Hou Yi discovered what transpired, he felt responsible for Chang'e, so he displayed the fruits and cakes that his wife had enjoyed, then killed himself.[7]
In older versions of the story, Chang'e stole the elixir from Hou Yi, drank it, and flew to the Moon so that her husband could not go after her.[9]
In the most classic version of the story, Wu Gang does good deeds for the King, and receives an immortality pill from him, and is asked to keep it safe in his house. One day, when Wu Gang was not home, thieves broke in, and Chang'e, in a brief shock of pain, swallows it when she was not supposed to. Citizens cried as Chang'e flew up to the Moon, now living with a jade rabbit. Her husband returns, realizes what just happened and mourns her death. He continues to cut wood for Chang'e in the mortal realm. His name is changed to Hou Yi in some adaptations of the myth.
Chang'e also appears inWu Cheng'en's late 16th-century novel, theJourney to the West; here, she is said to live in theGuǎng Hán Gōng (廣寒宮; 'Vast-Cold Palace'), located upon the Moon. During a heavenly festival of immortal peaches (after Sun Wukong's banishment), the heavenly official (a CanopyMarshal namedHeavenly Tumbleweed) who would becomeZhu Bajie, became heavily drunk, saw the goddess Chang'e, and attempted to force himself on her, only to be prevented and reported for this act. He was reincarnated as a boar/man beast-monster, who would later be recruited by theBodhisattva,Guanyin, as a guardian forTang Sanzang as he went on his pilgrimage to India for theTripitaka, the three baskets of scriptures written byTathāgataBuddha. Later into the story, the goddess Chang'e's pet, theJade Rabbit,became an antagonist and had to be retrieved by Chang'e andTaiyin Xingjun beforeSun Wukong killed the rabbit.
In 2020, a film calledOver the Moon premiered on Netflix. A young girl named Fei Fei flies to the Moon using a rocket she built to find Chang'e. Her hope is to convince her father true love exists and persuade him not to remarry. Chang'e is mourning over the loss of Houyi, who died on earth before they could be reunited. She believes Fei Fei holds the key to reuniting her with Houyi (through a magical potion created by Jade Rabbit) before the last sliver of moonlight is gone.
Chang'e was mentioned in a conversation betweenHoustonCAPCOM and theApollo 11 crew just before the first Moon landing in 1969:
Ronald Evans (CC): Among the large headlines concerning Apollo this morning, is one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. An ancient legend says the girl named Chang-O has been living there for 4,000 years. It seems she was banished to the Moon because she stole the pill of immortality from her husband. You might also look for her companion, a largeChinese rabbit, who is easy to spot since he is always standing on his hind feet in the shade of a cinnamon tree. The name of the rabbit is not reported.
Michael Collins (CMP): Okay. We'll keep a close eye out for the bunny girl.[note 1]
TheInternational Astronomical Union has assigned the nameChang-Ngo to a smallimpact crater on the Moon.
In 2007, China launched its first lunar probe, a robotic spacecraft namedChang'e 1 in the Goddess' honor. A second robotic probe, namedChang'e 2, was launched in 2010.[10] A third Chang'e spacecraft, calledChang'e 3, landed on the Moon on 14 December 2013, making China the third country to achieve such a feat after the former Soviet Union and the United States. The lander also delivered the robotic roverYutu ("Jade Rabbit") to the lunar surface. On 3 January 2019,Chang'e 4 touched down on the far side of the Moon and deployed theYutu-2 rover. Likewise all Chinese landers since then are named as Chang'e.[11]
The original plotline and inspiration ofNaoko Takeuchi'sSailor Moon is inspired by the legend of Chang'e (andNayotake-no-Kaguya-hime fromThe Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and the myth ofSelene and her mortal-turned-immortal lover,Endymion fromClassicalGreco-RomanMythology). Thetitular character is a princess of the Moon while herlove interest is from Earth; her reincarnation's civilian identity's name is "Usagi Tsukino" (a pun on the "Rabbit on the Moon").
In the video game seriesTouhou Project, Chang'e is the mysterious sworn enemy of Junko,[12] the final boss of the 15th gameLegacy of Lunatic Kingdom.[13]
Chang'e and her story is the main theme of the 2020 American-Chineseanimated feature filmOver the Moon produced byNetflix. The goddess is voiced byPhillipa Soo.[14]
Chang'e and her story was reimagined in the 2022 fantasy novelDaughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan.[15]
Australian psychedelic rock bandKing Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard included the track "Chang'e", containing elements of her story, on their 2023 albumThe Silver Cord.[16] They reference her again in the song "Mirage City" on their 2024 albumFlight b741.[17]
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羿請不死藥於西王母，姮娥竊以奔月，悵然有喪，無以續之。
Media related toChang'e at Wikimedia Commons
