Pangu Creates the World

Pangu is the creator god of Chinese mythology. In the beginning, the universe was a chaotic egg in which Pangu slept for eighteen thousand years. When he awoke, he split the darkness with a massive axe, separating the sky from the earth. He held them apart for eons until he finally collapsed from exhaustion. At the moment of his death, his body transformed into the universe: his eyes became the sun and the moon, his hair the stars, his breath the wind and clouds, and his body the five sacred mountains and surging rivers. This end epitomizes Daoist philosophy: "The One begets the Two, the Two beget the Three, and the Three beget the ten thousand things." It is the ultimate symbol of the unity of humanity and nature (Tian Ren He Yi).