Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Like in many cultures, the moon is a significant celestial body to Chinese people. The moon plays a large role in Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, and it is customary to look at the moon on that night and think of family. Unsurprisingly, the moon features prominently in the novel, both as a physical place (Xingyin’s childhood home, where her family resides) and as a metaphor for family, home, and comfort. Xingyin often looks at the moon when she is homesick, upset, or emotionally torn, and many times thinks of her mother when she does so. When she returns home at the end of the novel, drained from the dragons’ ritual and scarred by the emperor’s wrath, the moon’s “powerful rejuvenating energy” helps heal her wounds (487). She also often joins her mother in contemplation (497), making the moon a balm for both the body and the mind.

Xingyin has a familial connection to both the sun and the moon. Her mother, Chang’e, is the Moon Goddess, and her father, Houyi, is a legendary archer associated with the suns he shot down. Xingyin, whose name means “silver star” (49), connects the two. Although the sun is also a star, most people think of the stars that are only seen at night, those which accompany the moon in the dark sky.