Chang'e

Chang'e
The painting The Moon Goddess Chang E, dated to around 1500 (Ming dynasty)
Chinese嫦娥
Literal meaningChang the Beautiful
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinCháng'é
Wade–GilesCh‘ang22
IPA[ʈʂʰǎŋ.ɤ̌]
Gan
RomanizationSong4 ngo4
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationSèuhng-Ngòh
JyutpingSoeng4-Ngo4
IPA[sœŋ˩ ŋɔ˩]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJSiông-ngô͘
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese/d͡ʑɨɐŋ ŋɑ/
Old Chinese
Zhengzhang/*djaŋ ŋaːl/
Heng'e
Chinese姮娥
Literal meaningHeng the Beautiful
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHéng'é
Wade–GilesHêng22
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingHang4 Ngo4
Southern Min
Hokkien POJSò͘-ngô͘

Chang'e (/ˈtʃɑːŋ.ə/ CHAHNG-ə; Chinese: 嫦娥; pinyin: Cháng'é), originally known as Heng'e (姮娥), is the goddess of the Moon and wife of Hou Yi, the great archer. Renowned by her beauty, Chang'e is also known for her ascending to the Moon with her pet Yu Tu, the Moon Rabbit and living in the Moon Palace (廣寒宮). She is one of the major goddesses in Chinese mythology, Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. In modern times, Chang'e is the namesake of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.