The Many Myths of Moon Goddess Chang'e 嫦娥
An ink painting by Chinese artist Zheng Mukang depicts the goddess Chang’e flying to the moon.
On the 15th of August in the lunar calendar, the Chinese celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. This tends to fall sometime in September for those of us following the solar calendar.
What this looked like for me, growing up, was a time to spend with family around the kitchen table, eating a home-cooked meal (seafood, vegetable, meat - lots of colours!) followed by eating pomelo (one of my favourite fruits), and ending the night by looking at the full moon, making wishes to her. Although I have many aunts and uncles on my mother’s side, and cousins, we did not live in the same country, so it was often my mom and I spending family time together. Other favourite foods I associate with autumn: pineapple cake, and of course, mooncake.
If you’ve received a box of mooncake, you may have seen these boxes decorated with images of a young woman, a rabbit, and a full moon, but do you know what myths these images are referring to in Chinese mythology?
A Ming Dynasty painting depicting the moon goddess, Chang’e, in the lunar palace accompanied by her white rabbit..SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION / PUBLIC DOMAINChang’e, the Chinese Goddess of the Moon
Chang’e is the spirit of the moon, an immortal woman, a moon goddess. She is often depicted as a beautiful woman symbolizing elegance, grace, and charm. After drinking an elixir of immortality, she lives on the moon with the Jade Rabbit. In iconography, she is portrayed carrying the Jade Rabbit in her arms. In some versions of her myth, she transforms into a toad once she is on the moon.
I’ve always been spellbound by myths and fairy tales, and I’ve found myself naturally exploring Chinese mythology, as this is one way that I am reclaiming my ancestral practices through mythology. Having these conversations with my mom can be difficult because in assimilating to the dominant culture , in asking questions about my ancestral culture, there’s always a question I get back, why are you asking? I get the impression, what is the point of talking about it? Is there a use for it, and is it even safe? Assimilation is a bitch.
But by doing my own research, and continuing to have these conversations, my relationship with my mom has become even closer.
It has also deepened my reverence for mythology, by expanding beyond the Western Greco-Roman tradition, which has informed a lot of who I am, but is not the only wisdom tradition, or even the most important one for me right now.
In reflecting upon the cosmic stories that my ancestors shared with each other and created beautiful works of art on, I feel connected to them and inspired to share what I’ve learned on how Chang’e’s story has changed over time.
The Evolution of the Chang’e Myth
The earliest traces of her myth can be dated to the 5th century BC during the period of the Warring States. In Guizang, a divination book of that time, known only through later quotation, Chang’e is said to have stolen the elixir of immortality from 西王母 Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West). After she consumed the drink, she flew to the moon and became the spirit of the moon. There is no mention of the Jade Rabbit, a toad, or Chang’e’s husband, the hero archer, Hou Yi, although the idea of the rabbit and the toad can be found in texts from the Warring States.
What’s interesting is that the idea of the moon rabbit can be found in other Eastern as well as Indigenous cultures too. Scholars believe that the toad and rabbit originated independent of the Chang’e myth and were later combined through the centuries. A rabbit can often be seen running on the moon or pounding an elixir of immortality in front of Xiwangmu in Han dynasty iconography. The next time that you look at a full moon, a super moon, try to see if you can spy a rabbit through the shadows on the moon’s surface!
At the beginning of the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), it is said the archer Hou Yi received the elixir from Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) and this is how Chang’e stole it from him and consumed the drink. She then flew to the moon. It was likely added Chang’e was his wife. This is also the time when Han iconography shows a toad on the moon, standing on its hind legs and holding a pestle to pound the elixir into a mortar. This is yet another version of the Chang’e myth where she’s changed into a toad after landing on the moon. The toad is said to be ugly, and this is interpreted as a punishment for drinking the elixir. Sometimes, it is the hardworking Jade Rabbit pounding the elixir, of service to her.
A medallion on an 18th century Chinese emperor's robe depicting the Moon Rabbit mixing its elixir of life at the foot of a cassia tree.Vmenkov/Wikimedia CommonsChang’e’s name was originally Heng’e, but it was changed when the heng character was the same one used in a Han emperor’s name or to a different heng character since it was taboo to share an imperial name. Changxi is the mother of twelve moons, and some scholars suggest that Chang’e is originally Changxi.
During the Six Dynasties (386-589 CE), many poems written during this time and the Tang Dynasty either blame Chang’e for stealing the elixir and abandoning her husband, Hou Yi, or portray her with sympathy for living a lonely life on the moon. She is often described as a beautiful goddess in these poems.
Although she lives by herself, she has the Jade Rabbit for company as well as a neighbour, the immortal Wu Gang. In the Youyang Zazu (A Miscellany from Youyang) written by Tang writer Duan Chengshi, there was a cassia tree that was 5,000 feet high on the moon. Wu Gang was chopping at the base of the tree, but each time he chopped it, the gash healed itself. He had made a mistake in his quest for immortality, and was forced to do this work forever, quite similar to the Greek myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus rolled a stone up a hill, but each time the stone made it up to the top, it would tumble down, and he would have to roll the stone back up again.
Illustration for Guanghan Qiu (Autumn in a Lunar Palace)
A painting by Bai YunliWith Chang E watching, this image relates the legend in which Wu Gang, having offended the gods, must cut down a tree before he will be allowed to return to earth. However, the tree grows back as quickly as he cuts.In more modern portrayals of the Chang’e myth, there are more complex and rational reasons given for why Chang’e drank the elixir of immortality, and this one, in particular, pertains to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
This was when we had ten suns and when they rose in the sky together, it was too hot for us to live. Hou Yi, as we know, was a great archer, and he was the one who shot 9 of the 10 suns down to leave one to provide light. Yi was given an elixir of immortality as a reward. Yi did not drink it but one of his apprentices, Fengmeng, tried to steal it from him.
On the 15th of August in the lunar calendar, Fengmeng broke into Yi’s house and tried to force Chang’e to give it to him. She refused and instead drank it herself to prevent him from getting it. She flew up into the sky and chose the moon for her residence. When Yi discovered what had happened, he displayed Chang’e’s favourite fruits and cakes and gave sacrifices to her. He was sad she was gone.
Other versions say that after shooting the suns from the sky, Yi was proclaimed king, but became a tyrant. He asked for the elixir from Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West), but Chang’e stole it on the 15th of August to save the people from his rule.
Chang'e by Yan Jiyuan
As a figure of myth, she is one of the most well-known goddesses in Chinese mythology, and regardless of how she has evolved through time, she is known as a woman of great beauty, grace, intelligence, and self-sacrifice.
The essence of the Chang’e myth, drinking the elixir of immortality, floating up to the moon, and of being with the Jade Rabbit conjures something deep within my unconscious, when it comes to the ancient connection between the divine feminine and the moon, and the idea of service and community.
When I think of Chang’e and the full moon, the harvest moon, this is a time of active work (farmers would work through the night on the harvest moon). The tides are at their highest during the full moon and so too the water element within us is heightened.
This is an emotional peak, where we reach a climax of our efforts since the new moon, and we can see this reflected in Chang’e myth where big events are happening during the full moon.
Painting of Chang'e by Zhang Pingshan (Ming Dynasty)
The moon reflects the parts of ourselves we need to tend to. It illuminates what we may not have been aware of, and for me, this time has been a moment of heart-wrenching release. I’ve cried several times, had vivid dreams over the past few days, but what I find calming about this time is that it is a time of gathering.
Social gathering but also soul gathering. Sarah Faith Gottesdiener says the moon does not create anything that isn’t already there.
The image of Chang’e floating in the sky, up to the moon, is an evocative dream of the self that connects us to our divinity, where we do work that is rewarding but does not come without some sacrifice, some give.
Written By: Irene Lo
Additional Resources
Handbook of Chinese Mythology, Lihui Yang and Deming An with Jessica Anderson Turner