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At the beginning of every civilization, many stories which passed down from

generation to generation over hundreds of years, tell us how the earth and
man were created.
However, each culture is rooted in myths that describe their origins in
different ways.
For example in western culture, they believes that Adam and Eve were the
original father and mother of all created human beings
And some Indian tribes cultures believe that everything comes from nature
that has no beginning and no end.
As all cultures have their own stories, same goes to Chinese culture: Pn G
and its creation myth.

Story

Pangu is a prominent figure in Chinese creation mythology. He was known as


the one who are created the Heaven and Earth. But until now, the origin of
the story about Pangu myth has been much debated.
Because there are many version of Pangu story. But many peoples believe,
the original story is written by Xu Zheng in Sanwu Liji which is (??????) in the
Three Kingdoms period. He was the first writer known to record the myth of
Pangu.
Some peoples see, that it originated in the mythologies of the Miao or Yao
people of Southern China (Manuscript written in 1975 narrates the legend of
Pangu)
And other peoples see it was parallel to ancient Hindu mythology of creation
Ok nevermind, just go to the slide.
According to Chinese myth, Pangu was the first living creature and the
creator heaven and Earth. Among his acts of creation were the separation of
the earth and sky, the placement of the stars and planets in the heavens, and
the shaping of the earth's surface.
In Chinese mythology, the story of the creation of heaven and earth can be
dated back thousands of years.
Regarding to the legend, at that time, the universe was in chaos; it was dark
and chaotic everywhere. And within the darkness there was a huge egg. This
egg contains everything needed for creation with Pangu slept inside
Some story said, that was only heaven and earth were integrated into that
egg.
Pangu slept in this large egg for thousands of years; some said it was 18,000
years during which time the Yin and Yang balanced as he grew.
And one day, Pangu suddenly woke up and he found that he was in a vast of
dark.
He not being able to move and not even able to breathe.
Realized that he was trapped within it therefore he stretched and cracked the
egg and began to push it apart, causing the egg splitting into two pieces

some stories said Pangu using his axe to split the egg

Since the egg was splitted into two; one is the upper half of the shell or
the lighter parts of the egg, floated upwards
Then Pangu lifted the upper half of the shell or the lighter parts which
formed the heaven and the sky
At the same time, he sank the heavy part of the egg which is the lower part
of the shell which formed the earth
This separation of the sky and earth was marked the beginning of Yin and
Yang which also known as the two opposing forces of the universe
Yin is for the earth and Yang is for the heaven and sky. Pangu became the
pillar of the world by separating Yin and Yang.

To keep heaven and earth separated, Pangu stood between them and
pushed up the Sky.

This task took about 18,000 years


Pn G grew 10 ft every day, the heaven and the earth moved 10 ft far away
from each other every day.
In some versions of the story said, when Pn G keep separating the heaven
and the earth, he was aided by the 4 most prominent beasts which are
Tortoise, Quilin, Phoenix and Dragon
Finally, after the 18,000 years, he accomplished his mission of separating
heaven and earth when he felt the distance between heaven and earth was
great enough, which mean far away and cannot merge back together and he
died.
After he die, his body then formed various parts of the earth.
His last breath turned into the winds and the clouds.
His voice became the thunder and lightning.
The sweat from his body created rain and dew.
From his two eyes, left eye became the sun; the other one became the moon.
His head, arms and legs formed mountains in all directions. (East, West,
North, South)
The flesh of his body formed the soil and his blood became the oceans and
rivers.
Rocks, minerals, and gems were formed from his veins, muscles, teeth and
bones.
Hair from his body became all kinds of plants. At the same time, all of the
little creatures that lived on his body became all animals that we can see
today

Lesson learned from Pangu story

The use of the egg in Chinese creation myth gives us a visual idea of
creation, and helps us to well define Chinese culture and the idea of Yin and
Yang, which is the most popular theory in Chinese culture early in the myth of
Pangu.
It symbolizes the process when Pangu came out of the egg, wheres the
heavy part sank to form the earth and the other light part formed the heaven
and sky.

In Chinese culture, Yin, the heavy part, represents the earth and dark; while
Yang, the light part, represents the heaven and bright. Yin and Yang are two
opposite force but also independent to each other.
And the second one I can found that, Chinese have great respect for the
earth and this can be seen from the story, Pangu has devoted his whole life to
make a perfect home for us
Pangu is just like Corn Mothersacrificed himself/herself and left endless
treasures for us after his death. So, what we need to do is to cherish and
appreciate what we possess.
Above all, the creation of myth is not necessarily real and Pangu may not
really exist, but to some extent which reflects the higher level of truth
telling us what is good and bad, what is beautiful and ugly, what we should
do and what we shouldnt.
Therefore, the Chinese creation myth of Pangu does not only tell us how our
ancestors understand the composition of the universe, the origin of mankind,
the creation of all things, but also helps us to well define the Chinese culture.

When I was a child, I felt impressed by the Chinese myth about Pangu and its
creation myth. In almost every ancient culture, the creation myths are used to
describe how the earth and man were created. However, the creation myth about
Pangu not only contains an explanation for Chinese origin, but also demonstrates
something distinctive about the unique Chinese culture.

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