Pangu

The First Being · Primordial Giant

The primordial giant who separated heaven and earth from chaos. At death his body transformed into the mountains, rivers, sun and moon.

The tale of Pangu first appears in the Sanwu Liji (3rd century): "Heaven and earth were chaotic like an egg, and Pangu was born within. After 18,000 years heaven and earth parted — the clear yang became heaven, the turbid yin became earth." When he died, his breath became wind and clouds, his eyes the sun and moon, his limbs the four directions, his blood rivers — a classic cosmogonic motif.