Article Posted on : - Sep 15, 2008

SHANGHAI (BNS): China's first moon probe satellite Chang'e-1 sent greetings and two romantic songs for the Chinese community on Earth, on the occasion of their Mid-Autumn festival September 13-15.

Quoting the message released by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, the Chinese news agency Xinhua said that the Chang’e-1 verbal wishes were: “Let's (all Chinese compatriots) enjoy together the bright moonlight and look forward to our re-union.”

Apart from the verbal wishes, the satellite also sent two songs featuring on the re-union. According to Xinhua, one is named ‘Ali Mountain Girl’, a famous song describing young people's love affair of Gaoshan ethnic group in Taiwan. This song was created in 1949 by Deng Yuping for an Ali Mountain-related movie and became very popular across China in the 1960s, the agency said.

The second song is based on a famous Chinese poem written by Su Shi, an eminent writer of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), saying “We (lovers) wish each other a long life so as to share the beauty of this graceful moonlight, even though far apart.”
Xinhua says that the song was written in the 1980s for Teresa Teng, "pop music classic" singer in the heart of Chinese worldwide, by Liang Hongzhi, a famed singer in Taiwan.

The Chinese satellite was named Chang’e based on a lovesick fairy in traditional Chinese folklore that lived on the moon with a rabbit and always missed her beloved husband. The satellite that was launched on October 24 last year has completed the first step of China's ambitious three-stage moon mission, orbiting the moon 3,024 times as of August 1, the agency stated.