An elixir of immortality, a flight to the moon, and the moon goddess at the centre of it all. Of the many stories behind the Mid-Autumn Festival, the tale of Chang’e is one of the most well-known.
All versions of the legend end the same way: the brew for eternal life belonged to Chang’e’s husband, the legendary archer Hou Yi, but she drank it and flew to the moon, separated from her love forever.
Still, depictions of the moon goddess vary. Some say she betrayed her husband and stole the gift of eternal life for herself, while others remember her as a self-sacrificing woman who drank the potion to protect it from evildoers.
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Growing up listening to the folktale, Sue Lynn Tan, born in Malaysia, couldn’t help but reimagine the story. “I always thought it would have been a very hard decision for her [Chang’e]. What if a more personal, family reason existed behind it?” said the Hong Kong-based author.
“Maybe [there was] someone she loved as much as her husband. What if she had a secret daughter? What would the daughter do to save her mother, who was trapped on the moon?” asked Tan, referring to the inspiration behind her debut fantasy novel, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, published last January.
New take on an old tale
Mid-Autumn Festival has always been Tan’s favourite holiday, and she can vividly recall many fond family memories. “I remember going to buy mooncakes with my mother, and the traditional boxes would have images of Chang’e. And I loved that story,” she said.
Inspired by the tale, the two books in Tan’s Celestial Kingdom series follow Xingyin, the daughter of the Moon Goddess, who was raised in secret on the moon by Chang’e to avoid the wrath of the Celestial Emperor. When her existence is exposed, she must flee her home. The half-mortal girl then embarks on a perilous journey to save her mother.
During her quest, she ends up training alongside the Celestial Emperor’s son, further complicating things when sparks fly between them.
“A big theme of this book is love, and I love to explore it in different ways,” Tan said.
“Though there’s a lot of romantic love in the [book] ... [there is] also family love. It was about trying to convey the closeness of the relationship that she had growing up with her mother, even though there were a lot of secrets,” explained the USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author.
Celestial Kingdom is a duology consisting of two novels: Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior.
Like the protagonist in her story, Tan left home to study abroad in London and France before settling in Hong Kong.
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“My boyfriend got a job here, and initially, it was meant to be only for a year or two. And we ended by staying longer, almost 10 years now,” said Tan, now a mother of two sons.
The city’s natural scenery has left a deep impression on the author, helping her overcome writer’s block.
“A lot of people, when they come here, at first they see the big city ... [But] what I love about this place is all the nature [and] hiking trails. I love being outdoors – when I get stuck on a book idea, I go outside,” Tan explained.
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A lifelong love
While speaking alongside writer Axie Oh at the Young Readers Festival last month, the author shared how her love for stories began with a gift from her father.
“I still remember my father brought me ... [a collection of] fairy tales from around the world. And it was very eye-opening for me because it was illustrated,” she said, explaining that rather than the usual stories, like Cinderella, the book was filled with more diverse tales, like Indonesian myths.
Still, she hadn’t considered the idea of pursuing a career as a writer.
“My family is quite traditional, so when it came to choosing a degree, it was pretty much like medicine, finance, or accounting. So I studied finance, and I was very bad at it,” she said.
“But writing was something that I always loved. So I wanted to try it, and I had this idea [for the book].”
The author spent six months finishing the first draft of the manuscript and studiously researching how to publish her novel, contacting agents and publishers. Finally, after rounds of rejection, her book was published last year and quickly became a bestseller.
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“It’s crazy to imagine that readers around the world have connected with this,” she said, adding that translation rights for the book have been sold in 17 languages, such as Ukrainian and Spanish.
Looking ahead, the author is focused on her two upcoming books. One is set in the same world as the Celestial Kingdom series, while the second is based on another Chinese legend, Lady White Snake.
“I like to imagine this world where reality doesn’t play a part,” Tan said. “You can shake things out and create, bringing it [wherever] your imagination goes.”
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