Chinese Mythology · God / Legendary Figure
盘古 · Pángǔ
The giant who cracked the cosmic egg and became the world.
盘古
Out of chaos, over 18,000 years, a cosmic egg forms — and Pangu, the first living being, hatches from it. He splits the egg, murky yin sinking to form Earth and clear yang rising to form sky, then stands between them and grows daily for another 18,000 years to hold them apart. When he dies, his body becomes the world: his breath the wind, his eyes the sun and moon, his blood the rivers.
The earliest written versions are attributed to the 3rd-century author Xu Zheng, making this famous creation myth comparatively late in the textual record.
The canonical Chinese creation myth and the standard reference point when comparing Chinese cosmogony to other world traditions.
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