Pangu opens the Earth and Sky

Nationality: Chinese

Age: 59

Occupation: Unemployed

Residence: Shangyu, Zhejiang, China

Date: 04/05/2025 

Language: Mandarin

Description 

It’s been a long time, so I don’t remember this story well. We don’t tell these stories often because everyone knows them. I need to think… it’s about Pangu, he was a giant who created the world. He was the first being, and he was sleeping in an egg, and the egg represented chaos and disorder, and there was nothing but chaos. He has an axe, and… first he was frustrated because he couldn’t make sense of anything. Or did he wake up? I’m not sure. I don’t know. But at some point, he took his axe and swung at the chaos around him as hard as he could, then… the egg was sliced open, and it was really loud, like an explosion. After this, Pangu is no longer inside chaos. But he realized that the two halves of the egg were going to close up together again, so he raised his arms and stomped his feet and held the top half up while standing on the bottom half. The top is sky, the bottom, well, is the earth. And he stood for a long time, until the two halves wouldn’t ever come together anymore. Then he collapsed because he was too tired, he just laid down and he died. But there’s more. Parts of his body all became different things in the nature…natural world. His blood became the river, his sigh became the wind, the sound he made when he fell is the lightning… and then… and then what? I don’t remember the rest. That’s just how it goes. Pangu. 

Subject’s Opinion

Interviewer: If you don’t believe in the story, why do you think people still spread them? 

Subject: It’s a good story, it’s very melancholy. I think people enjoy telling it. And having one main God to think about when they think about the Chinese Gods, with the heavenly Gods and everything, when there’s so many of them. And, well, it’s a myth, so you tell it to Children so they understand the world a little better. 

Analysis

The popular Chinese creation myth of Pangu is commonly regarded as the origin story of the Chinese people. Pangu is often regarded as a martyristic figure, as the spirit of sacrifice is highly noble in Chinese culture. The myth is undoubtedly a sacred truth, as it sets the stage for countless myths to come. Though the subject’s rather indifferent towards the truth value of the myth, her vivid telling is indicative of the rich cultural heritage that Pangu is a part of. Pangu’s actions of holding two boundaries apart invite further exploration of our discussion of “the liminal’, the space in which the most disruption and change can happen. By creating a liminal space, Pangu then creates the world as the Chinese people know it, which communicates a powerful and frankly universal perception of the world not as a binary, but the endless possibilities between two ends.