Ling has a pet rabbit named Jade Rabbit. She named it that after the Jade Rabbit of Chinese ledgend.
As the story goes The Jade Emperor disguised himself into a poor, starving old man and begged for food from monkey, otter, jackal, and rabbit. Monkey gathered fruit from the trees, and otter gathered fish from the river. Jackal stole a lizard and a pot of milk curds. Rabbit though, could only gather grass. Knowing well enough that grass can’t be offered as food to humans, rabbit decided to offer its own body, sacrificing itself in the fire the man had started. Somehow, though, rabbit wasn’t burned. The old man suddenly revealed himself to be the great Jade Emperor! Touched deeply by rabbit's selfless sacrifice, he sent it to the moon to become the immortal Jade Rabbit.
It is said that if you look up at the moon, you can see an outline of the Jade Rabbit pounding with a pestle. More than just cute, fluffy, and white, the Jade Rabbit is a sign of selflessness, piety, and sacrifice. Maybe that’s why the Jade Rabbit is on the moon—so that no matter where we are on Earth, we always have the ethics of righteousness and self-sacrifice to look up to.
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