Legend has it that there were ten suns in the sky in ancient times, all of whom were sons of the Eastern Heaven Emperor. These ten suns live with their mother and the wife of the East China Sea Emperor. She often bathes ten children in Donghai, China, the easternmost part of the world. After bathing, let them perch on the tree like birds. Because the image center of each sun is a bird, the big tree becomes their home. Nine suns perched on the shorter branches, and the other perched on the treetops. When the dawn needs the morning light, the sun perched on the treetops will ride a two-wheeled vehicle, cross the sky, illuminate the world and spread light and heat to the whole world. The ten suns change every day and take turns to be on duty, which is orderly and harmonious between heaven and earth. People live happily and harmoniously on the earth. Like neighbors and friends, people live together, work at sunrise and rest at sunset, and live a happy life. People and animals can live in harmony. At that time, people were grateful to the sun for bringing them time, light and joy, and often kowtowed to heaven.

However, such days are too long, and these ten suns are tired. They want to travel around the sky together, and they think it must be interesting. So, when the dawn came, ten suns climbed onto the two-wheeled vehicle together and embarked on a journey across the sky. As a result, people and everything on earth can't stand it. Ten suns are like ten fires. The heat they released together scorched the earth and burned many people and animals. The forest caught fire and all the trees, crops and houses were burned to ashes. Those people and animals, pigs and wolves who were not burned to death in the fire ran around frantically looking for shelter and life-saving water and food.

When the river dries up, the ocean faces drying up, all the fish die, and the monsters in the water climb ashore to steal food. Crops and orchards withered and burned, and food sources for people and animals were cut off. People are either burned alive by the heat of the sun or eaten by wild animals. People are struggling in the fire, praying for the gift of God! At this time, there was a handsome young hero named Hou Yi. He is an archer, and his archery is superb. He was summoned by the Emperor of Heaven and accepted the mission of driving away the sun. Seeing people living in a sea of fire, he couldn't bear it, so he made up his mind to shoot out the extra nine suns and help people out of their misery.

Then, Houyi climbed over ninety-nine mountains, crossed ninety-nine deserts, came to the East China Sea, and climbed a mountain, at the foot of which was the vast sea. Hou Yi opened a crossbow with a force of ten thousand catties, took a sharp arrow with a weight of one thousand catties, aimed it at the burning sun in the sky and shot it out with a swish. The first sun was shot down. Hou Yi opened his crossbow again, took a sharp arrow, and shot it with a buzz, shooting down two suns at the same time. Now, there are seven suns in the sky staring at their red eyes. Hou Yi felt that these suns were still very hot and shot the third arrow violently. This arrow hit four suns. The other suns trembled with fear and kept spinning. In this way, Hou Yi shot an arrow at the sun one by one, killing nine suns. Nine suns shot by arrows died one after another. Their feathers fell to the ground, and their light and heat disappeared bit by bit. Until the last sun was left, he was so scared that he continued to contribute light and heat to the earth and everything according to Hou Yi's instructions.

Since then, the sun rises from the seaside in the east every day and sets from the mountains in the west at night, warming the world, making everything full of vitality and people live and work in peace and contentment.

The origin of Houyi shooting day

There are records of Houyi shooting at the sun in ancient documents such as Zhang Ju of Chu Ci and Huainanzi.