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Pángŭ
盘古
THE PANGU LEGEND
At the beginning of time there was only dark Chaos in the universe. Into this darkness
– which took the form of an egg – Pangu was born. Pangu slept safely inside the egg for
18,000 years and grew into a giant. As Pangu awoke, he stretched and the egg shattered.
The lighter, purer parts of the egg rose up to become the sky while the heavier, impure
parts sank down to become the earth. This was the beginning of the forces of yin and yang.
Afraid that the sky and earth would join back together, Pangu used his body as a pillar
to hold up the sky. Every day, the sky rose by three metres, and Pangu grew three metres
taller. After another 18,000 years, the sky was very high and Pangu was very tired. He
fell to the ground and died. His bones became mountains and his flesh became fields.
His left eye became the sun and his right eye became the moon.
In some versions of the legend, Pangu was aided in his almighty task by the four most
prominent beasts – the Turtle, the Qilin, the Phoenix, and the Dragon – just like he is here!
