Did 10 suns really appear in the ancient sky?

It is said that during the reign of Emperor Yao, there were 10 suns in the sky.

Legend has it that the mother of the sun was Xihe, the wife of the Emperor of Heaven, who gave birth to 10 suns after her marriage to the Emperor of Heaven. These 10 suns live in a place called Tanggu in the east beyond the sea. They live in the hibiscus trees in Tanggu. Between heaven and earth, every day there is a sun riding across the sky in a car driven by Shenlong, bringing light and warmth to people, and the remaining nine stay in Tanggu to play.

Suddenly one day, the suns got tired of this way of working. They thought, "If only we could go to the sky to play together!"! So one morning, 10 suns ran to the sky together. Ten suns appeared in the sky, and all the creatures on the earth suffered. Originally, there was a sun in the sky, which could supply people with enough light and heat, and there was abundant water on the earth to nourish all things. But when the 10 suns appeared in the sky together, the earth was scorched, the crops were killed, the rivers and the sea dried up, and the people had no food. Many monsters and beasts have also seized the opportunity to harm people.

The sufferings of the world shocked the heaven. The Emperor of Heaven gave the archer Hou Yi a magic bow and arrow, asking him to help Yao destroy the monsters and beasts that harmed people, and to frighten the 10 suns so that they could be obedient and stop fooling around.

Hou Yi came to the world with the divine bow and arrow given by the Emperor of Heaven. Seeing that the people on the scorched earth were in dire Straits, he advised that only one of the 10 suns should come out every day. The suns did not listen to Hou Yi's advice at all and continued to frolic in the sky. Enraged, Hou Yi took out his magic arrows and shot at the suns one after another, shooting down nine suns in a row.

Hou Yi wanted to shoot again, but Yao thought that the sun was very helpful to people's production and life, so he stopped Hou Yi from shooting the last sun. With the lessons of the first nine suns, the tenth sun no longer dares to fool around. It rises in the east and sets in the west every day, bringing warmth and light to the earth.

Since then, the world has been peaceful, and people have lived a stable and happy life under the sun.