Miscellaneous Myths: Hou Yi and Chang'E

I want to see more Chinese mythology covered on the channel. You don't see enough of it here in the west.

My teacher recommended us watch you in class for an assignment and I’m so happy

xi wangmu jumpscare

I don't know who chang e is

I want to imagine both endings that chang wanted to be a goddess again but through drama and stuff they both settle for mortal living and the good ending thing and hou yi dying part by his apprentice and chang not being welcomed to heaven so she settled on the moon

My grandma told me a different version of this story where the whole part about the suns actually being the emperor’s sons was nonexistent and that for some unspecified reason there were just ten suns in the sky. In her version, Hou Yi shot down nine of the ten suns and as a reward, the emperor said he’d give Hou Yi anything he wanted. Hou Yi is selfish, arrogant, and basically an asshole so he asks for an elixir that will grant him immortality. The emperor gives him the elixir, but his wife Chang’e knows that if her remarkably unsavory husband becomes immortal that a lot of people are probably going to suffer through the ages. So while he’s out one day she drinks the elixir, floats up to the moon and meets the Jade rabbit, saving society from what would’ve been an immortal menace. I also heard a version where Hou Yi was out and he hadn’t told her he had the elixir so she drank it out of curiosity and ended up gaining immortality and floating up to the moon. My grandma used to tell me this story every year on the Midautumn Moon Festival. Good times 😊

If only sun wukong didn’t eat all the dang peaches this man could’ve lived happily ever after with his wife

I'll give you props for getting close to Chang'E's proper sound! Tonal languages are hard for English speakers.

I remembered the story a bit differently. The husband got very abusive at home and so one day, the wife took both elixirs that made her fly.

sokka's got nothing on this dude

I don't want to be immortal, it's a curse too, imagine unable to die, even after 100000000 years? your children, your loved ones, will eventually die, but you cannot. that sucks.

The Jade's sons terrorize earth, but he's too wishy washy to do anything about it so he hires Hou Yi to stop them, then banishes him and his wife, wherein she drinks the only immortality potion there is and abandons him for the moon, then he's ultimately murdered by his own apprentice. Of course, a neo-feminist would view that as a happyish ending, if not hilarious, (and really, the "True End" made no sense, as she could've destroyed the potion & the bad guy wouldn't get it, anyway) even though said husband is neither an adulterer nor cruel, but is only at fault for being punished by an unjust god.


The moral of the story: if you do everything right, and have a dick, you will be screwed!

At least Chang’E got some partial company bye the Apollo astronauts, I guess.

Update 2: Chang’e now has a cooking show!

This myth was so fun for me to learn, because I actually found out about it after FIRST learning about a character from Touhou named Junko, who was the mother to one of those suns who got shot down and now seeks eternal vengeance against Chang'e. I kinda like how thw "true end" fits into this, because then it creates a nuanced tale of a mother scorned eternally venting her frustration against a woman who wasn't involved and doesn't wanna be here

Sick as hell

Nope. I've got no desire to become immortal

I also heard in some retellings of the myth, hou yi lived on the sun ( somehow idk- ) and represented yang and chang’e as yin and on eclipses, the couple reunites

I always mix up the legends of Kaguya and Chang'e unfortunately

The Avatar reference in the comments please me

what I was told it was the elixer is two pills of immortality but to protect the pills from getting stolen (by the apprentist) Chang e hides both pills in her mouth but then accidently swallows both of it.

The could have split it then waited till the peaches were in stock again

If I ever become immortal, I’m not gonna just sit around and be bored I’m gonna go on adventures and go full Sung Wukong

I would take immorality 100%

I remember this dog that sniffed the box so he gained flight and chased Chang’E and tries to get her back to earth but he’s slower when flying so he eats a chunk of the moon and spits it out again after thinking for a while so that’s how we have curve shaped moon

what the f---- are those bad boys?

Welp, since you asked:
I'd want immortality only if I had a method to end it, preferably one only I can use and maybe that can only be used once a year or something like that, so even if I decided to use it I'd have to think about it for a while.

Is that the spirited away soundtrack

Chang’e was also the goddess that Pigsy hit on which got him banned from heaven

I'd love to see the tale of Mani and Sunna(Sol?) of Norse myth for a Norse counterpart to the Japanese and Chinese lunar goddesses.

She is drifting into mobile legends and became a loli 😂😂😂🎉

Did you know chang’e hosts a cooking show now

In Monkie kid she has a cooking show.

update: chang’e now has a cooking show on the moon

A "bad ending" implies a "good ending" with no indication of which is true. </nitpick>

I'm late to the party but-
The version I've grown up with is Chang'e (or sheung ngo in Cantonese) is wife to a tyrannical emperor, while the emperor is greedy and wants to get immortality with the elixir, she downs them instead and floats to the moon, and she gets a rabbit as a pet!
I've also known Hou Yi (hau ngai) as an entirely separated story where him shooting down the nine moons is deemed heroic and no negative consequence is mentioned.
The versions differ a lot from region to region, country to country, because our culture is very much LIVING

Another fun tale about mooncakes: there was a time when people organised a revolution by putting paper slips of information into mooncakes - but again this is just a tale and I don't think it's historically accurate at all

Edit: I also love that shirt so much but I'm so late to the party TT

When you see the sun wu kong easter egg.

I've got to wonder, why is the second story the 'true' end? Was it told first? Was it just the one people liked better?

Even though I heard a lot of different versions of this story, no one can say which one is right because there are no actual evidence to support any of these stories to prove which one is real

I had a moon cake before it was lotus root, the worst thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.

The chang’ e probes actually are very important. They went to the far side of the moon (not the Pink Floyd album) the first one’s ever

So what I'm learning here is that the Jade Emperor is a terrible boss, heaven needs a better hiring process and we should just call the damn monkey if we run into any problems.

Oh to be in love with your celestial goddess GF that you bring sacrifices to

According to the first version, they could have become immortal humans and wait 600 years for the peaches of immortality to regrow and than become divine again. Obviously it would be a long time, but it's better than betraying your spouse and live forever alone on the moon.

In some early versions, Chang'e turned into a toad after she reached the moon.🐸
In Chinese culture, toads are associated with the moon because the bumps on their skin are reminiscent of the lunar surface.
However, these versions do not circulate now, probably because a toad and a goddess do not match.

I just noticed that the music in the background of this video is "The Making of a Cyborg" from the original "Ghost in the Shell" (1995), that is an excellent touch.

The version I grew up with is that the Jade Emperor was like “Reason with them, if they don’t stop just kill them ugh.” And then Houyi did and the suns were like “NAHH WE LOVE PARTYING LOL” and then Houyi shot them, until someone was like “Hey keep one, we need that for crops and shit.” And the other stuff happens. Also in the version i grew up with Chang’e and Houyi started as humans until the Queen Mother gifted them two elixirs for immortality but chang’e and houyi both agreed the cycle of life wasn’t something to be messed with and pain is definitely inescapable if they became immortal. Then some guy ( the assistant) tried to steal the elixirs while Houyi was away and Chang’e downed the whole two elixirs and went to the moon. Oh and the thing with the jade rabbit too.

The first i heard about Changé is when i studied chinese , my teacher would tell us stories at the end of class and ask questions about it after , it was to see how we remembered and it was so much fun listening to him because to us it felt like our grandpa's telling us fairytales. He told us the second one in this vid!! and after watching the first one , i thought that he knows we'll be sad if he tell us the first one . i missed him more now :,D

I wouldn't want immortality despite being scared of death purely because I feel like living forever would just suck

~ The Jade Emperor: WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!😱

~ Hou YI: What?! You said that you wanted me to stop your 10 sons?!🤨

~ The Jade Emperor: YEAH!! But I only said to STOP my 10 sons….as in DEFEAT THEM….NOT KILL THEM!!😡

~ Hou Yi: Well….then you should’ve been more specific about hiring me…AS AN ARCHER!!😡

~ The Jade Emperor: THATS IT!! YOU ARE HEARBY BANNED FROM HEAVEN!!👿

~ Hou YI: Oh! C’mon Man?!😨

~ The Jade Emperor: And you’re stupid wife is banned alongside you!!😈

~ Chang’e: Wait a minute?! How am I involved in any of this?!😭