Jade Rabbit 玉兔 (yù tù)

The Jade Rabbit is the most well known mythical inhabitant of the Moon. The word jade in its name came from its pelt which is as white as jade. Legend has it that this rabbit was the pet of the goddess Chang’e, helping out in the moon place by blending herbs into medicine with a mortar and pestle. As for the origin of the Jade Rabbit, there are quite a few different stories. Early legends have that it wasn’t a rabbit living on the moon but instead a jade tiger, but the pronunciation of rabbit and tiger was similar back then and the Jade tiger that lived on the moon slowly became the Jade rabbit. Later legends have that the rabbit was actually a form that the goddess Chang’e takes as a punishment for eating the magical pills that allowed her to fly to heaven and she must pay back by making medicine on the Moon. Another legend has it that the rabbet was actually Chang’e husband, Houyi (后羿) who chose to stay in this form so he’s allowed to stay with his wife. But most legends agree that the Jade rabbit symbolizes yin and femininity and is often correlated with the moon.

Fun Fact - People today think that the ancient Chinese got the idea of a rabbit on the moon from the shadowy mountain ridges on the moon, that means other probably thought these shadow looked like the figure of a young woman (the goddess Chang'e) and some see a toad (the Three-legged Golden Toad). (Boy do people’s imagination run wild when it comes to the moon, from seeing rabbits and toads in the East to Oldman and blue cheese in the West.)