“Fairy Lady” Flying Towards the Moon

122 X 173 cm     ac      2007

The 1969 Moon Landing by American astronauts was a major achievement for Western science and astronomy. In Chinese tradition, however, the moon is treated more in poetic and spiritual ways, for example in the famous folktale of Chang’e the Moon Lady-a beautiful young maiden who accidentally drank an elixir of immortality. As she ran to escape palace guards, she jumped out of a window and flew to the moon.In this painting, Dr. Chen shows the astronauts from the West, landing on the moon. However, instead of a cold body of inert matter, they find the moon is full of the poetry of the East. Chang’e is there, as well as Li Bai, the “Moon Poet,” who wrote hundreds of“Moon Poems.”In 2004, China officially launched its “Chang’e Program,” a lunar exploration project named after the fairy of the legend. In November 2007, China successfully launched its first lunar orbiter “Chang’e 1” and will soon have Chinese astronauts land on the moon in the near future. So perhaps the fairytales of the Lady Who Lives on the Moon will actually become a reality!