Chang'e

In the classical account preserved in later compilations of earlier material, Chang'e was a woman in the mythic age whose husband or consort, the archer Hou Yi, received two portions of an elixir of immortality. Variants in the tradition describe Chang'e taking the elixir (in some versions to prevent its being seized by the apprentice Fengmeng; in older versions presented as theft) and then ascending into the heavens to make the Moon her immortal residence. The tale is recorded in early Zhou-period divinatory fragments (Guicang) and later reworked across literary histories and popular retellings; her ascension is the central origin motif connecting her to the Moon Palace (廣寒宮).

Sources emphasize Chang'e's renowned beauty and portray her as a graceful celestial maiden or lunar attendant; detailed physical attributes beyond her beauty are not specified in the surveyed materials. She is commonly depicted in literature and popular imagery as a young female immortal associated with the Moon and accompanied by the Jade Rabbit (玉兔).

Primary mythic ability recorded in the sources is transformation/immortalization via the elixir of immortality: consuming the elixir enabled her ascent and permanent residence on the Moon. She is represented as a lunar immortal who inhabits the Moon Palace (廣寒宮) and forms part of a cosmology of immortals, celestial palaces, and attendant functionaries. In literary sources she also functions as a symbolic figure—embodying nostalgia and solitude in poetry (for example, work by Li Shangyin). Narrative episodes place her among Moon Palace maidens and link her to interactions with other mythic figures (Hou Yi, Fengmeng, the Jade Rabbit, and lunar officials mentioned in Journey to the West), but the provided texts do not attribute destructive powers, magic rituals, or defined combat abilities to her.