Ancient Chinese solar calendars were encoded into myths of ten suns perching in a tree

The 'Shanhaijing', or 'Classic of Mountains and Seas', describes the 'Fusang' tree in the eastern ocean where ten suns lived, each taking a turn to illuminate the world. When all ten suns appeared at once, scorching the earth, the divine archer Houyi was sent to shoot nine of them down, leaving only one. Each sun was said to be carried by a three-legged crow, a bird often associated with the dark spots visible on the sun’s surface.