The Story of Mid Autumn Festival as retold by A. Twu Many years ago, back before it was discovered that the sun was a glowing ball of nuclearizing hydrogen, the sun was a brilliant bird, brighter than a pheonix, a bird that flew up into the sky each morning and returned to its nest in a great tree each night. There was really more than one sun, there were ten. They took turns flying up into the morning sky. And for many years, the birds lived happily, and the people lived happily under their warm glow. Then, one day, the great tree was disturbed. Frightened, the ten suns all scattered from the tree and up into the sky. Too scared to return to their nest, they stayed up in the sky together. Needless to say, things got very bad on the earth. The temperature shot up. Rivers, lakes, and even the vast ocean dried up. Crops and livestock died, and people were on the verge of starvation. Still, the birds stayed up there in the sky. Now, there lived a man named Hou Yi. A master archer, he could hit any target with deadly accuracy at incredible ranges. The leaders of the time, unable to stop the drought, called on him for help. His mission: to shoot all those extra suns out of the sky and return the world to its normal state. Hou accepted this duty and brought out his most powerful bow and his straightest arrows. He pointed them skyward at the sun (don't ask me how someone can aim anything at the sun and not go blind) and released. One of the birds fell out of the sky and down below the edge of the earth. Hou Yi restrung his bow and took aim at the second, and with the same accuracy with which he downed the first, he shot down the second. He strung up his bow again and then went for the third, the fourth, the fifth, etc. Finally, after grueling hours of shooting, Hou Yi shot down the ninth bird. Once again, he restrung his bow and took aim. Just before he released the arrow though, an old man tapped him on the back and said "Wait! You must leave the last sun!" With day and night back to normal, the rivers came to life again, and with it the land and the people. Feeling deeply indebted to Hou Yi, they gave him many gifts and made him their king. Still basking in his glory, Hou ruled for many years. However, he was more a man of physical strength and skill than a statesman. Proving a poor ruler, his popularity dropped, and tensions grew between him and the people. He continued to rule, though, growing crueler and crueler as he grew older and older. This was when he remembered one of the gifts he had recieved- a magic drink said to come from the gods. The legend behind this drink was that if split between two people, they could both become immortal; if taken by one, that one would become a god. Hou Yi took out this drink, and decided that he and his wife, Chang-e, would drink it and live happily forever. So, he took out the bottle and decided that he would drink it later that night. Meanwhile, Chang-e found out about his plot. She thought about it, and realized that an immortal Hou would be an everlasting plague on the country. Seeing this, she entered the room where the drink was held, and found the bottle. "Well," she thought, "the only way to make sure this drink doesn't fall into the wrong hands is if I drink it myself." So, she opened the top and chugged (pardon my language) the drink. Suddenly, Chang-e felt herself getting lighter and lighter, until she was weightless. No longer bound by gravity, she floated out of the palace and into the night sky. Upward she drifted, higher and higher until she reached the moon. On the moon, a palace awaited her. However, the moon was (And is) a lonely place. Besides herself, all there was on the moon was an old woodcutter and a rabbit making medicine. It was the heaven's industrial park. "What a place to live," she thought, "but at least the people on the earth will not have to suffer under Hou Yi's rule forever." Not long afterwards, Hou Yi died of old age. With his tyrannical reign over, a more rational and kinder government developed. Gradually, the story of Chang-e's consumption of the drink got out, and the people wanted to thank her. However, there she was on the moon, and there they were on the earth. So, each year, when the moon loomed larger than ever on 15th of August (Lunar), the Mid-Autumn Festival, people would gather and gaze skyward, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. The End The Story of The Moon Cake In the 14th century, China was under Mongol rule and oppression. However, the Mongols were few and the Chinese many. As the Mongol's empire slowly deteriorated and their grip weakened, some Chinese decided it was time to overthrow them. Using the cover of the holiday to assemble their people, the planners of the revolution stood by waiting. There remained the question of how to deliver the final "go" message, though. This is where the mooncake came in. The messages were folded up and baked into the mooncake fortune cookie style, and the pastries were then distributed. On the night of Mid Autumn, aided by the bright moonlight, the revolution began. It would go on to topple the Mongol empire. The Ming dynasty was founded afterwards. More than half a millenia later, China was once again under corrupt foreign rule, this time under the Manchus. Once again, revolutionary elements, these led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen, sought to form a new government. On October 10th, 1911, also a Mid Autumn Festival, their eleventh revolt in Wuchang ignited the revolution that led to the founding of the Republic of China.