Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional Chinese festival which is on the August 15th Chinese lunar calendar. On this day, Chinese people enjoy the full moon and eat moon cakes. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is bright. The ancient people regarded the full moon as a symbol of reunion, therefore, August 15th is also called as the "Reunion Festival". Among the myths and legendary stories related to the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are many folk tales and the most famous story is "Chang E flying to the moon". Legend told it that Chang E was the wife of a hero named Hou Yi in ancient times. At that time, there were ten suns in the sky. The weather was very hot and the crops were burnt. This brought great terror and disaster to the land of the people inChina. Hou Yi shot down nine suns and left one sun in the sky. People finally can live a normal life. Hou Yi was admired by the people.

Hou Yi heard that the Queen Mother of the Western Heaven had a kind of medicine. If one person ate this medicine, one person could ascend to heaven. If two people share to eat this medicine, they could live forever. So he climbed mountains and crossed rivers to ask for it, and finally got the medicine. Hou Yi and Chang E were a loving couple. He was reluctant to part with his beloved wife, also reluctant to leave the people. He was unwilling to become a God, so he took the medicine home to Chang E and asked her to keep it. Hou Yi had an apprentice named Feng Meng who was a despicable man. On August 15, Hou Yi went out hunting. Feng Meng forced Chang E to give up the immortal medicine. In order to make the immortal medicine not fall into the hands of the bad man, Chang E swallowed it. But after swallowing the medicine, she was light as swallow, and unexpectedly involuntarily flew into the moon palace. Hou Yi missed his wife very much, so he put delicious food and fruits in the courtyard to offer Chang E. He looked at the moon and missed his wife Chang E very much.

People also followed Hou Yi, so every year on August 15th Chinese lunar calendar is our traditional holiday Mid-Autumn Festival.