Chang'e

Lady of the Cold Palace

Chang'e is the Chinese goddess of the moon. Wife of the archer Hou Yi, she swallowed the elixir of immortality he had been given and floated up to the moon, where she dwells in the cold Moon Palace with only a jade rabbit pounding the herbs of immortality for company. Her story is honored every autumn at the Mid-Autumn Festival, when families gaze at the full moon and eat mooncakes.