Table of Contents
< All Topics

Chang’e(嫦娥):
In Chinese, it is pronounced as: cháng é,Written as:

Originally known as Heng’e and Heng O, Chang’e is a character from Chinese mythology, distinguished by her extraordinary beauty, gentleness, wisdom, and celestial charm, and is the wife of Hou Yi. According to legend, in order to maintain her youthful beauty, she stole the elixir of immortality that the Queen Mother of the West had bestowed upon Hou Yi and fled to the moon, an event known as the “Flight of Chang’e.”
In mythology, Heng’e became immortal and ascended to the moon after consuming the elixir of immortality that Hou Yi had obtained from the Queen Mother of the West, and she resided in the Palace of Everlasting Cold on the moon. Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was no evidence to suggest that Heng’e and Yi were married. Gao You’s commentary on the “Huainanzi” later indicated that Heng’e was Hou Yi’s wife. Over time, some folktales sometimes merged Chang’e with the Moon God of Taoism, Taiyin Xingjun.
Legend has it that Chang’e ascended to the lunar palace after stealing Hou Yi’s elixir of immortality and could no longer meet with her family. Consequently, people began placing moon-like pastries in their courtyards on the fifteenth day of the eighth month to express their longing for Chang’e, a tradition that has evolved into the annual Mid-Autumn Festival.
In Han Dynasty murals, Chang’e is depicted with a human head and a snake body, her hair styled in a high bun, wearing long-sleeved robes, and with a long tail adorned with downward-hooked feathers. After the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Chang’e was portrayed as an unparalleled beauty. The last emperor of the Southern Chen Dynasty, Chen Shubao, once compared his favorite concubine Zhang Lihua to Chang’e. The Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi also used Chang’e to praise the extraordinary beauty of a neighbor’s young daughter.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Shopping Cart