In the ancient times, there was ten suns in the sky. Their heat parched fields, wilted crops, and left people lying breathless and unconscious on the ground. Ferocious animals and birds fled boiling rivers and flaming forests to attack human beings.
The immortals in heaven were moved by the people's suffering. The Emperor of Heaven sent the archer Hou Yi to help bring order to the earth. Hou Yi, with his beautiful wife Chang'er , descended to earth carrying a red bow and white arrows given him by the Emperor of Heaven.

He tried to persuade the Suns to come out one every day alternatively, to bring warmth and light to the world but not too much heat. But none would listen to him. So he had to begin his battle. He drew his bow and arrows, and took aim at the imperious suns. In an instant, one after the other, nine suns were shot down from the sky.

He becomes a hero to the people. But Hou Yi had aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who slandered him before the Emperor of Heaven. Soon the archer and his wife were banished forever from heaven and forced to live by hunting on earth.
Hou Yi, sorry that his wife had to lead a mortal's life for his sake, obtained an elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West. The medicine could bring man to heaven. Unfortunately it's not enough for two. He hided the medicine from his wife. But Chang'er does not like her new life on earth. She found the elixir, swallowed it while Hou Yi was away from home and flew to the moon.

The heartbroken Hou Yi could not bring himself to shoot the moon down and he lived alone on earth by hunting and teaching archery. He was shoot dead while he was drunken by one of his jealous students. The Chang'er in the Moon Palace never felt happy either, because a small rabbit was her only company.