嫦娥 CHANG'E | Epic Chinese Orchestral Music & Love Beyond the Moon | 國風音樂 & 嫦娥

He shot down nine suns to save the world — and still could not keep the one he loved.
他射落九日拯救蒼生 — 卻仍留不住此生最愛之人。

CHANG'E FLIES TO THE MOON 嫦娥奔月 · The Origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival

━━━ THE STORY ━━━

In the ancient days, ten suns rose together into the sky, scorching the earth, withering the crops and leaving the people to suffer. Then came Houyi, a hero of unmatched strength. He drew his great bow and shot down nine of the ten suns, leaving only one to warm the world. The land turned green again, and the people honored him.

For his deed, the Queen Mother of Heaven granted him an elixir of immortality. But Houyi did not wish to live forever without his beloved wife, Chang'e — so she kept the elixir safe, and they lived happily together.

One of Houyi's disciples, the treacherous Pangmeng, coveted the elixir. When Houyi was away, he broke into their home and demanded it. Chang'e, refusing to let such power fall into wicked hands, swallowed the elixir herself.

At once her body grew light. She rose from the ground, drifting up and up, beyond the reach of her husband's hands, into the night sky — until she came to rest on the cold and lonely moon.

Houyi returned to find her already gone, a glowing figure high above him. He fell to his knees, reaching for a wife he could no longer touch.

From then on Chang'e lived in the moon palace with only a jade rabbit for company, gazing down each night at the world she had left behind. And Houyi, unable to follow, set out a table beneath the full moon — her favorite fruits and cakes — gazing up at her across the vast distance.

The people saw his devotion and did the same, laying out offerings to the lady of the moon. And so, every year when the moon is full and round, families gather beneath it to remember two lovers parted between earth and sky — the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival.