Changxi () or Changyi () is a Chinese lunar goddess worshiped in the traditional

Chinese pantheon Chinese traditional religion is polytheistic; many deities are worshipped in a pantheistic view where divinity is inherent in the world. The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating and propagating the way of Heaven (''Tian'' ), whic ...

. Known from ancient times, the earliest historical information on Changxi can be traced back to the ''

Classic of Mountains and Seas The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shan Hai Jing'', formerly romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed sinc ...

'' (''Shan-hai Ching''). She is the wife of

Di Jun Di Jun () also known as Emperor Jun is one of the ancient supreme deities of China, now known primarily through five chapters of the ''Shanhaijing'' (Yang 2005, 97). Di Jun had two wives, or consorts: Xihe (deity), Xihe and Changxi, and Di Jun figur ...

and the mother of twelve

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

History

The earliest known mention of Changxi is made in the mythic text '' The Canon of the Mountains and Seas'', romanised as ''Shan-hai Ching''. A single line in it reads: "The Emperor Jun married Changxi, who gave birth to twelve Moons."

Mythology

The God of the Eastern Sky

had three wives, including Changxi, who was regarded as his first wife Xihe's western counterpart; while Xihe gave birth to suns, Changxi bore twelve unique moon daughters that would complete a full journey across the heavens every day. She bathed her children in a water pool. Described as an "important early goddess", her significance amongst the deities gradually waned and she was eventually "demoted to a minor position".

Legacy

Together, Xihe and Changxi are a representation of ''

yin yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...

''. Xihe and her ten suns, and Changxi and her twelve moons represent the Chinese solar and lunar calendars respectively. Changxi is often confused with fellow lunar goddess

Chang'e Chang'e ( ; , alternatively rendered as Chang-Er or Ch‘ang-o), originally known as Heng'e, is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. She is the subject of several legends in Chinese mythology, most of which incorporate several of the following elem ...

. Sharron Gu attributes this to the similar features shared by the two names due to their similar pronunciations and being in the same word family. However, it is plausible that Chang'e and Changxi originated from the same lunar goddess.

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