The Creator God Pan Gu
Pan Gu was in Chinese mythology the creator of the world. His figure is first mentioned in Xu Zheng’s Sanwu liji (quoted in the encyclopaedia Yiwen leiju) from the 3rd century CE. Later on, he appears in Ren Fang’s Shuyiji from the Liang period (502-557), where it is said that the body of Pan Gu constitutes Heaven and Earth. In the collection Xuanzhongji, that is included in the story collection Gu xiaoshuo gouchen, a similar story is told. In its original state, the universe was a thorough chaos (Hundun). Pan Gu spontaneously emerged from its centre, and after 18,000 years, Heaven and Earth became clearly divided. While the Yang part formed the clear outer sphere (like the white in an egg), the Yin and impure part remained in the centre (like the yolk of an egg). With the increasing height of Heaven and the growing thickness of the earth, Pan Gu’s body likewise became larger and larger.
His head and his limbs formed the five sacred mountains, his blood, tears and sweat transformed into rivers, his eyes formed Sun and Moon, his hairs the forests and vegetation, the teeth transformed into stones and ores, marrow and sperm became jewels and jade. The winds were nothing else than his breath, and the roaring thunder his voice, while flashes came out of his eyes.
This story is also told in the apocryphal writing Wuyunli nianji that is quoted in the history book Yishi and in the collection Guang bowuzhi. In the latter, natural phenomena are attributed to different activities and physical parts of the body of Pan Gu. It is said that his body had the shape of a snake, that his breath produced wind and rain, the blows of his breath thunder and lightning. When his eyes were open, the white in the eyes formed the clear sky, and when he closed his eyes, it became dark.
Popular tales also explain that Spring and Summer were warmed by his open mouth, and when he closed his mouth, coldness and frost caused Autumn and Winter. When he was happy, the sky was clear and blue, and his angriness clouded the sky. It is not clear when exactly this story came into being, probably during the Qin (221-206 BCE) or Han (206 BCE-220 CE) periods and quite likely in the region of Wu and Yue (modern Jiangsu and Zhejiang). The people of the southern regions (Nanhai, Guilin) also erected honorific tombs and temples for Pan Gu. The Sanwu liji also says that the Three August Emperors (sanhuang) were descendants of Pan Gu. Pan Gu is thought to have participated in the modelling of the landscape of the world. He is therefore often depicted as holding a chisel in his left hand and an axe in his right.
The modern scholar Xia Cengyou (1863-1924, author of Zhongguo gudai shi) found out that the southern peoples of China venerated a certain Pan Hu as the deity that created the world of the primordial chaos, and that this deity was later also incorporated into the Heaven of the Chinese. Yet in the biography of the Southern Man in the history book Hanshu, Pan Hu is only mentioned as a dog of the mythological emperor Gao Xin who was allowed to marry Gao Xin’s daughter as a reward for destroying Gao Xin’s enemy Dong Xin. The couple withdrew into the mountains and produced six sons and six daughters, the ancestors of the wild Wuling tribes. It might therefore be that Pan Hu had nothing to do with the deity Pan Gu. The famous book Shanhaijing also reports the story of how Pan Gu’s limbs constituted the parts of the earth and mentions several places where deities like Zhuyin or Zhulong were believed to build up Heaven and Earth. On the other hand, Zhulong is mentioned in the Chuci “Poetry of the South” as a deity able to throw light into places where the sun does not reach to.
Pangu Separates Heaven and Earth
In the beginning, there was no sky, no earth, no light, no darkness—only an endless, egg-shaped void called Hundun. This cosmic “egg” held swirling energies of Yin (passive, dark) and Yang (active, bright), locked in a formless dance. Within this chaos slept a giant named Pangu, the first conscious being in Chinese mythology. He would become the universe’s sculptor, its first martyr, and its literal foundation.
The Great Awakening – Splitting Yin and Yang
For 18,000 years, Pangu slept. As his consciousness stirred, he grew frustrated by the suffocating darkness. Gripping a giant axe (or sometimes a chisel, depending on the version), he swung with all his might. With a thunderous crack, the cosmic egg split. The lighter Yang energies rose to form the Sky. The heavier Yin energies sank to become the Earth. But the newborn world was unstable. Fearing collapse, Pangu stood between the Sky and Earth, pushing them apart with his hands and feet. Each day, he grew taller by 10 feet (3 meters), stretching the sky higher and the earth thicker. This Herculean task lasted another 18,000 years, until Sky and Earth were permanently fixed.
Pangu’s Sacrifice – Becoming the World
Exhausted by his labors, Pangu finally collapsed. But his death was not an end—it was a metamorphosis. His body dissolved into the very fabric of creation. When Pangu passed away, his breath transformed into howling winds, floating clouds, and the ever-changing spectacle of weather. His voice became the rumbling thunder and the roaring tempests. His left eye turned into the blazing sun, exuding masculine yang energy, while his right eye became the serene moon, embodying feminine yin beauty. His flowing blood converged into rushing rivers, tranquil lakes, and vast oceans. His veins became the crisscrossing roads and undulating mountain ridges. His muscles turned into the fertile soil that nourishes all things. His bones became precious minerals and metals. His hair grew lushly into verdant forests and boundless grasslands. His sweat fell as the rain and dew that moisten the earth. In some versions of the legend, the parasites on his body gave birth to humanity. In this act, Pangu became both the creator and the creation—a paradox echoing later Daoist ideas of unity between humans and nature.
A Han dynasty tile emblematically representing the five cardinal directions.
