Pangu Creator

English H, Period 2
16 December 2013

Pangu: Creator of the world "The Creation of Heaven and Earth" is a myth that first appeared in Sanwu Liji written by Xu Zheng in the Three Kingdoms Period of ancient China and was spread from the southern ethnic minorities since then, including the Miao and Yao. The story began with the heaven and the earth existing as a whole of chaos that resembled an egg. Pangu, the creator of heaven and earth, slept for 18,000 years inside the turbid “egg” and finally woke up, surprised, in suffocated darkness and chaos. He cut through the darkness with his powerful axe until it exploded, which spitted the heaven and the earth. Pangu held the heaven up with his hands and troded his legs on the land to
prevent the newly formed world from coming together again. The distance between the heaven and the earth became three meters longer everyday as his body grew three meters. Another 18,000 years passed, the heaven became further away from the thickening earth because of the giant Pangu. During this period, the heaven continued to ascend and expand while the earth sank and thickened until the distance between them was at its extreme of 90,000 kilometers apart. All these accomplishments were the hard work of the almighty Pangu, who died with a big laugh after seeing the birth of the new world. After Pangu died of exhaustion, his body turned into various things in the universe that would exist forever. Pangu split the heaven and the earth, seeded all the things in the universe, and turned the darkness into the heaven and the earth. In Chinese culture, Pangu is not only the god that created the world, a hero who broke away from the darkness and sought brightness, but also a great model who sacrificed himself for the benefit of others.
The myth of Pangu separating the Earth from the Heaven portrays the Chinese culture as monotheistic. However in reality, polytheism is a ubiquitous theology among the traditional Chinese culture. Originally, Chinese ancestors created one most powerful deity and as time passed additional deities were created and a system of Gods with hierarchical ranks and jurisdiction was developed as a result. The story began with the universe “in chaos and where the Heavens and the Earth were intermingled… [and] the Yin and Yang balanced as [Pangu] grew (AncientOrgins.net).” The balance of Yin and Yang is the harmony of two opposite or extreme sides, such as the light and dark and the good and the evil. When Pangu pushed the Earth and Heaven apart, this action not only illustrates the physical separation of the world, but also the intangible division of good and evil. Chinese also believed in intangible ideas. But, sometimes intangible concepts are difficult for common people to comprehend. Therefore, they attempted to paint a human-like creature such as Pangu with realistic characteristics of humanity that allows people to think the godly figure is closely resembled a human-being, as observed in the Greek mythology where Zeus is capable of transforming into human in disguise. Pangu, although with a human flesh, possesses the power to separate good from evil, bringing the world in order. The establishment of Ying-Yang in harmony symbolizes the importance of peace and balance among the Chinese. On the other hand, the loss of this balance implies the danger, despair, and destruction. These beliefs affected the plot of the story because without the Yin and Yang, the universe inside the “egg” would remain as unbalanced in complete darkness and chaos.
In the myth of Pangu separating the earth from heaven, Pangu is the main character who was in control of the process of creating the world and he also led the symbol of power from the way how he fought through the darkness, which demonstrates the idea that the Chinese culture was rotated around a fact that only the most powerful heroes could help control over the Emperor’s land. The legend of Pangu illustrates the start of an idea of a patriarchal culture. Ever since Pangu was awakened in the cosmic egg, he was born into his social role, but owned the power to succeed in something. This legend portrays that each person in the society is born with some special talent, which is why there was a civil service exam to rotate in new officials who could outsmart the old system and help serve the government. The power structure affected the plot of this story because without the idea of the powerful rules all, and every person is born with a gift, Pangu wouldn’t be shown as a hero and accomplish many things for the Chinese to have a reason to look up to him. The effects of the power structure are important to the Chinese culture because through history of ancient China, the most talented and powerful heroes were usually selected by the normal people and government. The power structure also influence us in modern society because it teaches the idea of the powerful and talented could have brighter futures ahead of them and any kind of people would have some specials and can succeed in their lives if they try hard and have goals to be accomplished in the future. The Chinese culture believed in courage of overcoming the dark and the evil by rebelling and fighting and sacrificing self for a brighter future of others.
These ideas have passed on in Chinese history and are celebrated and honored by normal Chinese. As a tradition, the merits of bravery and determination are applauded and encouraged in family and taught as a life lesson. At the end of the legendary myth, by sacrificing himself, Pangu finally accomplishes his life-long dream of creating a new and beautiful universe with stars, mountains, rivers, etc., for the future of all the other beings. “Pangu felt suffocated [and was determined to fight back and break through the darkness] so he cracked the egg with a broad ax.” In the Chinese culture, they believe heroes, who have bravery, determination, and the willing to fight and sacrifice for others and have created wonderful achievements for China, such as advanced inventions. The Chinese hate cowards, who never even try to achieve accomplishments or fight against the evil ones. These cultural values affect the plot of this story because without the courage and determination inside Pangu, he wouldn’t have the strength and dedication of creating the two most important parts of the universe for others to live in. How the culture values affect the Chinese history and civilization greatly is shown frequently through the revolts and uprising against the corrupt government in Chinese history. It would give innocent people
more freedom and rights. With such culture, whenever someone faces hard times from their environment or government, they would use their brave and determined hearts to fight and solve the problem for the good. The belief of fighting back and never giving up hope applies to our modern lives because our world is full of difficult problems for individuals, society, and the entire world. Pangu’s courage, determination, and self-sacrifice would encourage us to face, fight against, tackle, and finally resolve these problems and succeed in good. The idea of self-sacrifice to benefit others is particularly important as shown in the advancement of human history and the evolution of civilization, which are made possible by people who sacrificed their time, effort, and even lives, like Pangu. In the legendary story of Pangu, Pangu created a new universe from the intermingled darkness and chaos. The new world was not only bright due to the separation of heaven and earth, but became more wonderful and beautiful after Pangu sacrificed his physical immortality. “Pangu’s breath became the wind and the clouds, his voice turned into thunder and lightning, his left eye became the sun and his right eye became the moon. The four points of the compass and the mountains arose from his limbs and trunk, his blood formed the rivers and his veins the ways and paths, his flesh became trees and earth, the hair on his head became the stars in the heaven, his skin and the hairs on his body turned into grass and flowers (jcu.edu.com).’ Obviously what Pangu originally created was a beautiful environment for human being to live in. This wonderful environment has been passed generation after generation, but unfortunately people gradually forget their responsibility for maintaining this environment and passing it on. Reading Pangu’s legend would remind us of this responsibility to protect our environment.
In many aspects, Chinese culture is very different from the modern American culture.
For example, Chinese culture places its values more in faith in personal relationships than in written rules and procedures for structuring interactions, while American culture values written rules that presumably apply to everyone and are assumed to produce fair, reasonable procedures and decisions. From Pangu’s legend, it seems that there is a common thing in Chinese and American culture, i.e., the hope for goodness and the courage to fight for it. From the beginning of world creation, there was always a hint of formal hierarchy in which they know their position and the customs for behavior in the situation. American cultures have the wishing of informal, egalitarian government where importance of social rankings minimizes. Throughout the Pangu creation myth, Chinese culture taught people to fight against the dark side and evil for a bright future, as evidenced by the frequent uprising against evil government in Chinese history. Both American and Chinese cultures value courage and determination. But the ways to show these values seem different, American culture taught people to directly discuss controversial topics and press personal opinions about what they consider the truth. In traditional Chinese culture, people usually do not like to confront face by face, but tell the difference in opinion in indirect ways. This culture difference could sometimes cause misunderstandings between
American and Chinese, but with more and more interaction and communication between these two cultures, common values would become evident.

Bibliography:
"Pangu and the Chinese Creation Myth." Ancient Origins. Channeldoubler, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
"Pangu Creates the Universe." Pangu Creates the Universe. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.vv