The Legend of Pangu

In the beginning, the universe was a vast chaos, a formless mass swirling in eternal darkness. Within this primordial void, an enormous cosmic egg was born, containing the essence of yin and yang—the forces of darkness and light, earth and sky. For millennia, the egg nurtured a sleeping giant, Pangu. One day, after 18,000 years, Pangu awoke. With a mighty roar, he stretched his arms and broke the egg apart. The light and clear elements rose to form the heavens, while the heavy and dark elements sank to create the earth. Fearful that the heavens and earth would collapse back into chaos, Pangu held the sky above his head and stood on the earth below, growing taller each day for another 18,000 years. As Pangu grew, so did the distance between heaven and earth. Eventually, the world took its final shape, stable and separate. Pangu, exhausted by his task, laid down and took his final breath. His body transformed into the elements of the earth—his breath became the wind, his voice became thunder, his eyes the sun and moon, his blood the rivers, and his flesh the soil. Even his hair and beard became the stars and sky, while his bones turned into mountains. From Pangu's death, the world as we know it was born, and the cycle of life began.