Pangu Separates Heaven and Earth

Long, long ago, the world did not look the way it does now. Back then, the sky and the earth had not yet separated. There was no sun rising in the distance, and no moon to light up the night sky.

There was no high, wide sky and no solid ground. Everything—the light and the heavy, the clear and the cloudy—was all mixed together like a round egg. There was no top and no bottom; everywhere was just a swirling mix of chaos.

Pangu was born amid this chaos.

Around him, there were no mountains, no rivers, and no sun rising from afar. Everything was squeezed together. No part of the world could be called the sky, and no part could be called the earth. Pangu was there, within the sky and earth that had not yet separated.

The Sky and Earth Slowly Separate

Many long years passed.

After eighteen thousand years, the mixed-up world finally began to change. The clear and light parts floated upward, while the cloudy and heavy parts sank downward. The two parts that had been blended together slowly began to drift apart.

The parts floating up went higher and higher, and the parts sinking down grew thicker and thicker. The clear part drew away from the murky part, and they were no longer squeezed together. The sky and the earth slowly separated, and Pangu remained between them.

Above was the sky. Below was the earth.

Where everything had once been a single clump, a vast, open space unfolded. Pangu stood between the sky and the earth. The ground beneath his feet became solid, and the sky above his head stretched higher. As the world grew, Pangu grew taller day by day.

One Day, and Another

Every day, the sky rose by one zhang—a traditional measure of length—the earth thickened by one zhang, and Pangu grew taller by one zhang.

As one day passed, the sky rose by one zhang, the earth thickened by one zhang, and Pangu grew taller by one zhang. As another day passed, the sky above continued to climb and the earth below continued to deepen, and Pangu grew taller along with the expanding space.

Everything that had once been a swirling mix before his eyes now had a top and a bottom. Looking up, the sky drifted further and further away; looking down, the earth grew deeper and deeper. Pangu grew in the middle, his body becoming more and more massive as the distance between heaven and earth widened.

The earth was beneath his feet and the sky was above his head, with the newly unfolding world surrounding him. At first, the clear and murky parts had touched one another; now, the brightness above and the thickness below had separated, and Pangu stretched out between them. As the sky rose, he rose; as the earth thickened, he grew taller.

One day, then another.

The sky did not stop at its original height, nor did the earth stop at its original thickness. Pangu's body changed along with them. The tiny space they had first shared had now unfolded into a vast expanse, so wide that it no longer looked like that first egg-like world where everything was mixed together.

One zhang, then another. Not for a day, nor for a year, but for eighteen thousand years, this growth continued.

By then, the sky was so high that its end could not be seen, and the earth was unimaginably deep. Standing between heaven and earth, Pangu had become a giant of incredible size.

Wind, Clouds, Sun, and Moon Arrive

But this vast world did not yet look like the place people know today. There was no wind to push the clouds, no rivers to flow across the land, and no plants to spread their leaves across the hills and fields. Heaven and earth had separated, but many things had not yet appeared.

Finally, Pangu's life reached its end.

As his great body fell, a wonderful transformation began to unfold between heaven and earth.

His breath turned into the wind and the clouds.

The wind blew from where the giant had once stood, sweeping across the wide, open space. The sky was no longer just a silent, distant height; clouds began to gather and stretch across it. Some were thin like a veil of gauze, while others piled up in thick layers, drifting far away with the wind.

As one cloud drifted from near to far, another unfolded in the sky. Pangu's breath had now scattered across the vastness of heaven and earth. Though its boundaries were invisible, the clouds moved along with it.

His voice became the thunder.

A deep roll of thunder tumbled across the sky, traveling far through the open air. The once-silent world now had a booming echo. The sound surged through the clouds and spread into the distance, as if the giant's voice were still echoing between heaven and earth.

His left eye became the sun, and his right eye became the moon.

The sun poured bright light onto the land. Places that had been hidden in darkness slowly revealed their shapes: the high places brightened, and the low places caught the light. The sky no longer held only drifting clouds; there was now a dazzling sun, shining down on a changing world.

When the moon rose in the sky, the light grew soft. Clear, silvery moonlight fell upon the earth and stretched into the distance. The sun and the moon became two different kinds of light in the sky: one bright and warm, the other quiet and gentle.

Mountains, Rivers, and Plants Fill the Earth

Pangu's limbs and body turned into towering mountains in the four corners of the world.

Across the flat land, peaks rose and ridges connected. One mountain appeared nearby, and another appeared in the distance, rolling and waving toward the horizon. Deep valleys formed between the peaks, and when the wind blew, it whistled through these high and low places.

His teeth and bones became metals and stone.

Hard rocks appeared on the mountain peaks, and stone walls unfolded in layers, with boulders exposed across the wild landscape. Some great stones stood tall on the heights, while others rested at the foot of the mountains, showing different shades of color from afar. The hard parts of the giant's body now remained on this earth in a brand new way.

His blood turned into rivers.

Water flowed from high places to low, winding around the feet of mountains and passing through valleys. Tiny streams joined together, gradually growing into wide, rushing rivers. The water mirrored the light of the sky, curving around bends as it raced toward distant lands.

The rivers no longer stayed within the giant's body but unfolded across the land. Mountains stood on either side while the water flowed through the middle; shadows of clouds fell upon the surface, swaying gently with the ripples. The once empty world now had towering peaks and flowing streams.

His muscles turned into soil for fields, and his skin and fur became plants and trees.

The earth spread out between the mountains and along the riverbanks. Slender blades of grass pushed up from the ground, and trees stretched out their branches. Where there had been no color before, shades of deep and light green slowly appeared. Grass formed carpets in the lowlands and trees spread their canopies on the heights; the earth was no longer a bare wasteland.

When the wind blew, the blades of grass leaned to one side; when the wind faded, they lifted gently again. The branches swayed in the breeze, and the tiny leaves brushed against each other, filling the wilderness with a soft, whispering sound.

His sweat turned into rain and dew.

Rain fell, tapping against the leaves and soaking into the soil. Tiny droplets rested on the tips of the grass, reflecting points of bright light; more rainwater gathered in the hollows and flowed into the rivers. The sky, the wild lands, and the flowing water were now all connected.

His essence turned into pearls and jade.

Their warm, soft glow hid between heaven and earth. When light hit them, they shimmered with tiny sparks of brightness; when the surroundings grew dark, they remained there in quiet peace. The earth now had thick soil, hard stone, and these softly glowing gems.

His beard and hair turned into the stars.

As the sunlight faded, points of light—some near and some far—appeared in the sky. Stars gathered beside the moon and peeked through the gaps in the clouds. Pangu's physical form was no longer between heaven and earth, but when we look up, we can see his light filling the entire sky.

The rain stopped, and tiny droplets still clung to the tips of the grass. Sunlight filtered through the clouds, lighting up the leaves and the distant mountain peaks. A droplet flashed, slid down a blade of grass, and soaked into the soil, while more water flowed into rivers, continuing its journey forward.

During the day, shadows of clouds drifted slowly across the mountains, and leaves swayed gently in the sunlight. At night, the moon reflected on the water, and the stars of the sky appeared. The same river reflected the sun's light by day and carried the moon's shadow by night, flowing from the foot of the mountains toward the far horizon.

In the beginning, Pangu was born inside a swirling mix of chaos where there was no top or bottom. Now, the sky stretches high above and the earth spreads wide below. The heavens hold the sun, moon, and stars, while the earth holds the mountains and rivers. Grass grows on the hills, trees spread their branches, and rain and dew fall among them.

Pangu's towering figure can no longer be seen between heaven and earth. Yet, his breath is in the wind and his voice is in the thunder. When we look up, we see the sun and moon he became; when we look down, we see the mountains, rivers, and plants he became.

The wind blows through the mountains again, the leaves rustle softly, and the river curves under the moonlight. The giant who once grew day by day within the chaos has now become this vast and beautiful world.

Long, long ago, the world did not look the way it does now. Back then, the sky and the earth were not separate. There was no sun and no moon. Everything—the light and the heavy, the clear and the cloudy—was all swirled together like a round egg. There was no top or bottom, no towering mountains, and no flowing rivers.

Pangu was born amid this chaos.

Many long years passed. After eighteen thousand years, the sky and the earth began to separate. The clear, light parts floated upward to become the sky, while the cloudy, heavy parts sank downward to become the earth. The world that had once been a swirl slowly divided into a top and a bottom.

Pangu stood between the sky and the earth, growing along with them.

Every day, the sky rose by one zhang—a traditional measure of length—and the earth grew thicker by one zhang. Pangu also grew taller by one zhang every day. One day passed, and he was a zhang taller; another day passed, and as the sky continued to rise and the earth continued to thicken, Pangu's body continued to grow.

Day after day, year after year. Another eighteen thousand years passed. The sky became so high that it had no end, the earth became incredibly deep and solid, and Pangu became a giant of unimaginable size.

But in this vast world, there was still no wind to push the clouds, no rivers to rush along, and no plants to spread their leaves across the wild hills.

Eventually, Pangu's long life came to an end. As his great body fell, a wonderful transformation began to happen between the sky and the earth.

His breath turned into the wind and the clouds. The wind blew across the wide open world, and the clouds gathered in the sky, stretching out and drifting far away.

His voice turned into thunder. The rumbling sound of thunder crashed through the clouds and rolled into the distance, bringing sound to the silent world.

His left eye became the sun, and his right eye became the moon. The sun poured bright light over the land, and the moon cast a soft glow in the distance. From then on, the sky had two different kinds of light.

His limbs and his body turned into towering mountains. The earth was no longer flat; peaks rose up and ridges connected, leaving deep valleys between the high places and the lows.

His teeth and bones turned into metals and stone. Hard rocks appeared on the mountain peaks, cliff walls unfolded, and stones scattered across the wild fields. The hard parts of the giant's body remained on the earth in a new form.

His blood turned into rivers. Water flowed from high places to low, winding around the feet of mountains and passing through valleys. Tiny streams joined together to become wide rivers that reflected the light of the sky as they rushed far away.

His muscles turned into soil for fields, and his skin and hair became grass and trees. Blades of grass pushed up from the ground, and trees spread their branches. Slowly, the wild lands filled with many shades of green. When the wind blew, the leaves rustled softly.

His sweat turned into rain and dew. Rain fell upon the leaves, soaked into the soil, and flowed into the rivers. Tiny droplets rested on the tips of grass, catching glints of light.

His essence turned into pearls and jade. The earth now had thick soil, hard stone, and softly glowing gems. They rested quietly between heaven and earth.

His beard and hair turned into the stars. In the night sky, stars appeared beside the moon and through gaps in the clouds. Lights, some near and some far, covered the high heavens.

The sun shone upon the mountains, and the moon reflected in the rivers. The wind pushed the clouds along, rain fell into the forests, and a sky full of stars twinkled in the night. The swirling mix of chaos from the beginning had become a world of mountains, waters, grass, and trees.

Pangu's towering figure could no longer be found between heaven and earth. But his breath was in the wind, his voice was in the thunder, and the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, and plants were all things he had become.

The wind blew through the mountains, and the leaves rustled. The giant who had grown day by day within the chaos had now become this vast and beautiful world.