The mid-autumn festival is held annually at the time of the full moon in September

“The Story Goes Like This …

Hou Yi (/ho ee/) was an excellent archer. Chang’e (/chung-er/) was his wife.

Long, long ago, there were 10 suns in the sky. The suns burnt all the plants on Earth. People were dying. Read more…

One day, Hou Yi used his bow and arrows to shoot down nine of them. All the people on Earth were saved.

The Queen Mother of the West gave Hou Yi a bottle of elixir that could make him immortal. But the elixir was only for one person. Although Hou Yi did want to become immortal, he wanted to stay with Chang’e more. Therefore, he didn’t drink the elixir and asked Chang’e to keep it safe for him.

Hou Yi became more and more famous after he shot down the nine suns. People wanted him to be their master and most of them were accepted by Hou Yi.Not every student of Hou Yi had good morality. Pang Meng, one such student, wanted to seize his elixir.

One day, Hou Yi went hunting with his students, but Pang Meng (/pung mnng/) pretended to be ill and stay at home. After making sure Hou Yi had gone, he went to Hou Yi’s house and tried to force Chang’e to give him the elixir. Chang’e knew she couldn’t defeat Pang Meng, so she drank the elixir immediately.

The elixir made her fly higher and higher. In the end, she stopped on the moon. She became immortal.

Hou Yi was very sad when he received the news. He came back home and moved a table under the moon, preparing some food on it. He hoped Chang’e could come back to stay with him.

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the moon is bright, children try their best to find the shape of Chang’e on the moon.”

Read more about other stories relating to the mid-autumn festival here.