Chang'e

Chang'e first appeared in Guicang, a divination text written during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC – 256 BC). From the few preserved fragments of the text, it mentions "Yi shoots the ten Suns", and "Chang'e ascending to the moon." The early text Classic of Mountains and Seas mentions . The name "Chang Xi" in this text refers to "Chang'e" since the pronunciation of "" is identical to "" in ancient Chinese. The famous late Tang Dynasty (618–907) poet, Li Shangyin, wrote the poem "Chang'e" based on the story of Chang'e stealing the immortal 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 for numerous poets beyond Li. The original poem in Traditional Chinese: A translation by Witter Bynner, in his book The Jade Mountain: During the Ming 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 novel Journey to the West (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. In Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (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. ==Myth==

Tales . The osmanthus leaf held by the largest figure, at the right, identifies her as the Moon Goddess Chang’e, who inhabits her celestial palace along with a rabbit that prepares the elixir of long life. lived on the Moon preparing the elixir of life. There are many tales about Chang'e, including a well-known story about her that is given as the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival. 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. In other depictions stone reliefs Chang'e also appears in Wu Cheng'en's late 16th-century novel, the Journey to the West. Here, she is said to live in the , located upon the Moon. During a heavenly festival of immortal peaches (after Sun Wukong's banishment), the heavenly official (a Canopy Marshal named Heavenly Tumbleweed) who would become Zhu 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 the bodhisattva, Guanyin, as a guardian for Tang Sanzang as he went on his pilgrimage to India for the Tripitaka scriptures. Later into the story, the goddess Chang'e's pet, the Jade Rabbit, became an antagonist and had to be retrieved by Chang'e and Taiyin Xingjun before Sun Wukong killed the rabbit. ==Space travel==

Chang'e was mentioned in a conversation between Houston CAPCOM and the Apollo 11 crew just before the first Moon landing in 1969: The International Astronomical Union has assigned the name Chang-Ngo to a small impact crater on the Moon. In 2007, China launched its first lunar probe, a robotic spacecraft named Chang'e 1 in the Goddess' honor. A second robotic probe, named Chang'e 2, was launched in 2010. A third Chang'e spacecraft, called Chang'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 rover Yutu ("Jade Rabbit") to the lunar surface. On 3 January 2019, Chang'e 4 touched down on the far side of the Moon and deployed the Yutu-2 rover. Likewise all Chinese landers since then are named as Chang'e. ==In popular culture==

(Thni Kong Tnua) in Penang, Malaysia. On the evening of the Moon Festival, an altar is erected outside the temple before the goddess; it blesses the clothing or hair accessories placed there and gives beauty and love to their owners. The original plotline and inspiration of Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon is inspired by the legend of Chang'e (and Nayotake-no-Kaguya-hime from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and the myth of Selene and her mortal-turned-immortal lover, Endymion from Classical Greco-Roman Mythology). The titular character is a princess of the Moon while her love 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 series Touhou Project, Chang'e is the mysterious sworn enemy of Junko, the final boss of the 15th game Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. Chang'e and her story is the main theme of the 2020 American-Chinese animated feature film Over the Moon produced by Netflix. The goddess is voiced by Phillipa Soo. Chang'e and her story was reimagined in the 2022 fantasy novel Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan. Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard included the track "Chang'e", containing elements of her story, on their 2023 album The Silver Cord. They reference her again in the song "Mirage City" on their 2024 album Flight b741. ==Gallery==

Tang dynasty bronze mirror with moon goddess and rabbit design, HAA.JPG|Tang dynasty bronze mirror with Chang'e and moon rabbit, Honolulu Museum of Art Datong 282.jpg|Porcelain pillow of Guanghan Palace in Yuan dynasty, collected in Datong Museum Chang E, The Moon Goddess.jpg|Fan map of Chang'e in Yuan or early Ming dynasty Carved lacquer wooden box, Ming Dynasty.jpg|Moon Palace on Ming dynasty lacquer wooden box 费以耕、张熊梅月嫦娥图扇页.jpg|Fan map of Chang'e by Fei Yigeng and Zhang Xiong, from Qing dynasty Long Corridor-嫦娥.JPG|Colored Paintings of the Summer Palace Corridor: Guanghan Autumn Scenery, a copy of Qian Hui'an 's imitation of Qing dynasty painter Hua Yan in the late Qing dynasty Chang'e flees to the moon by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.jpg|Tsukioka Yoshitoshi ukiyo-e A Hundred Poses of the Moon: Chang'e flees to the Moon The dragon, image, and demon; or, The three religions of China- Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, giving an account of the mythology, idolatry, and demonolatry of the Chinese (1887) (14760951946).jpg|Illustration of Chang'e in Three Religions in China: Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism (1887) of DuBose Chang'e flies to the moon - Project Gutenberg eText 15250.jpg|Chang'e flies off into the Moon as her husband Hou Yi watches ==See also==