Pangu

Pangu is the greatest creator deity in Chinese mythology. According to the classical texts Sanwu Liji (Chronicle of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors) and Wuyun Nianli Ji (Chronicle of the Five Phases and Annual Cycles), before heaven and earth existed, the universe resembled a cosmic egg, within which Pangu was born and slept for 18,000 years. Upon awakening, he split the formless chaos with his great axe: the clear qi rose to become heaven, while the turbid qi sank to become earth. To prevent heaven and earth from collapsing back into unity, he stood between them—holding up the sky and pressing down on the earth—and grew in stature alongside their expansion, enduring another 18,000 years. At last, upon his death, Pangu’s body metamorphosed into the myriad phenomena of the world: his breath became wind and clouds; his voice, thunder; his left eye, the sun; his right eye, the moon; his four limbs and five extremities, the four cardinal directions and the Five Sacred Mountains; his blood, rivers and streams; his hair and beard, vegetation and forests; and the parasites upon his body, the common people. Through this ultimate act of self-sacrifice, he brought forth the world—embodying the highest ideal of devotion and selflessness in Chinese cultural tradition.