A RECORD OF ALL THINGS UNDER HEAVENAs gathered from the oldest accounts that remain
PROLOGUE — CHAPTER FOUROn the Matter of Pangu — 盤古 — Coiled Antiquity
Pangu is written with two characters.
The first character is Pan — 盤. It means: coiled. Wound upon itself. Curled tightly in a small space.
The second character is Gu — 古. It means: ancient. Old. That which has existed since before memory.
Together — 盤古 — they mean: Coiled Antiquity. The ancient thing that has curled itself up and is waiting.
His name describes the position he was found in when the world was first opened.
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On which texts record him.
The oldest surviving written record of Pangu appears in the Sanwu Liji — 三五曆記 — the Historical Records of the Three and Five. This text was written by Xu Zheng — 徐整 — during the Three Kingdoms period — 三國時代 — San Guo Shi Dai. Xu Zheng was a man of the Wu Kingdom — 吳國 — Wu Guo. He wrote in the third century.
The Sanwu Liji itself has not survived. What survives are quotations from it, preserved inside later encyclopedias. The Yiwen Leiju — 藝文類聚 — Classified Collection of Literary Writings — compiled in the Tang dynasty — 唐朝 — Tang Chao — quotes from it. The Taiping Yulan — 太平御覧 — Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era — also quotes from it.
From these quotations, the Pangu myth is reconstructed.
The second oldest source is the Wuyun Linian Ji — 五運曆年紀 — the Annals of the Five Cycles of Time. This text is also attributed to Xu Zheng. It records Pangu's death and transformation. It also has not survived in full. It is known through quotations.
The third source is the Shuyi Ji — 述異記 — Records of Strange Things. This was compiled by Ren Fang — 任昉 — during the Liang dynasty — 梁朝 — Liang Chao — in the sixth century. It adds detail to Pangu's body transformation.
Later texts add more. The Guang Bowuzhi — 廣博物志 — Expanded Records of the Myriad Things — describes his appearance. The Kaipi Yanyi — 開辟演義 — Exposition on the Opening of the Cosmos — written in the Ming dynasty — 明朝 — Ming Chao — adds tools to his hands. These are the major written sources.
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On the cosmic egg.
The Sanwu Liji records:
Heaven and earth were in a state of chaos — 混沌 — hundun — like a chicken's egg — 雞蛋 — ji dan. Pangu was born within it.
This is the first sentence of the oldest surviving account.
The chaos resembled a chicken's egg. Inside the egg, the opposing forces of Yin — 陰 — and Yang — 陽 — swirled without separating. They contended. They pressed against each other without any space to press into, because there was no space yet.
For eighteen thousand years — 一萬八千年 — yi wan ba qian nian — this continued.
Then Yin and Yang achieved balance.
From that first moment of balance, Pangu was formed.
He was inside the egg. He was asleep. He was coiled because there was no room to be anything other than coiled. This is why his name means what it means.
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On the waking.
He woke.
The Sanwu Liji does not record why he woke. It records only that he did.
When he woke, he could not bear the confinement. The egg was too small. The darkness was complete. There was nothing to breathe that had not already been breathed many times over.
He struck out.
The accounts differ on what he used. The earliest accounts say nothing about tools. He struck with what he had, which was himself. Later accounts — the Kaipi Yanyi, written in the Ming dynasty — say he held a chisel — 鑿子 — zaozi — in his left hand and an axe — 斧頭 — futou — in his right hand. He used the axe to split and the chisel to pry.
The egg cracked.
What was clear and light inside it rose upward. This was Yang — 陽. It became heaven — 天 — tian.
What was turbid and heavy inside it sank downward. This was Yin — 陰. It became earth — 地 — di.
The Sanwu Liji records: the limpid that was Yang became the heavens — 天 — tian. The turbid that was Yin became the earth — 地 — di.
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On the holding apart.
Heaven and earth, newly separated, were still attracted to each other. They wished to return to the condition of the egg. They moved toward each other.
Pangu stood between them.
He placed his hands above him and pushed the sky upward. He placed his feet below him and pressed the earth down. He stood in the middle and held them apart with his body.
The Sanwu Liji records what happened next:
Heaven grew taller by one zhang — 丈 — zhang — each day. Earth grew thicker by one zhang each day. Pangu grew taller by one zhang each day. This continued for eighteen thousand years. Until heaven reached its ultimate height. Until earth reached its ultimate depth. Until Pangu reached his ultimate length.
One zhang is approximately three meters. Ten feet. Each day for eighteen thousand years.
At the end of this time, heaven and earth were separated by ninety thousand li — 九萬里 — jiu wan li. Approximately twenty-eight thousand miles. This is the distance between them now. This is the distance Pangu held with his body for eighteen thousand years.
Some versions record the growth differently. Some say the sky grew ten feet — 十尺 — shi chi — per day and Pangu grew three feet — 三尺 — san chi — per day. The numbers differ across versions. The direction does not differ. Up. Down. Pangu between.
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On his appearance.
The texts describe him differently across different periods.
The Wuyun Linian Ji records: he was the first anthropomorphic deity — 神 — shen — in the world. He was male. He had all four limbs and five facial features intact. He possessed hair — 毛髮 — maofa — and a beard — 鬍鬚 — huxu.
The Guang Bowuzhi — 廣博物志 — describes him differently. It says he had a dragon's head — 龍頭 — longtou — or a human face with a serpentine body.
In the Tongbai — 桐柏 — region of Henan — 河南 — province, the temple statue of Pangu shows him with two dragon horns — 龍角 — longjiao — on his head. The local tradition holds this is the most accurate depiction.
In the ancient oral traditions of the Miao people — 苗族 — Miao Zu — he is described with horns, a square face, and big round eyes.
He appeared as a dwarf in the paintings. He was in fact a giant. The paintings were not wrong. The paintings showed the truth of his beginning — a small curled thing inside an egg — rather than the truth of his end, which was enormous beyond measurement.
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On the four assistants.
Some versions record that Pangu was assisted in his work by four creatures.
The Dragon — 龍 — Long.
The Phoenix — 鳳凰 — Fenghuang.
The Tortoise — 龜 — Gui.
The Qilin — 麒麟 — Qilin.
What assistance they provided is not recorded in detail. Their presence is noted. Their role is not specified beyond the noting.
These four creatures appear at the beginning of the world. They will appear again in this record. Their chapters come later.
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On his death.
After eighteen thousand years of holding the sky above and the earth below, Pangu's work was finished.
He lay down.
He died.
The Wuyun Linian Ji records what happened to his body. This is the most complete account of the transformation.
His breath — 氣 — qi — became the wind — 風 — feng — and the clouds — 雲 — yun.
His voice — 聲音 — shengyin — became thunder — 雷 — lei.
His left eye — 左眼 — zuo yan — became the sun — 太陽 — taiyang.
His right eye — 右眼 — you yan — became the moon — 月亮 — yueliang.
His four limbs and his torso became the five sacred mountains — 五嶽 — Wuyue — the four directions and the center.
His blood — 血 — xue — became the rivers — 江河 — jianghe.
His muscles — 肌肉 — jirou — became the fields — 田地 — tiandi — the fertile ground in which things grow.
His veins — 筋脈 — jinmai — became the roads — 道路 — daolu.
His hair — 頭髮 — toufa — became the stars — 星星 — xingxing.
His beard — 鬍鬚 — huxu — became the planets — 行星 — xingxing.
His body hair — 汗毛 — hanmao — became the forests — 森林 — senlin — and the grasslands — 草原 — caoyuan.
His teeth — 牙齒 — yachi — and bones — 骨頭 — gutou — became metal — 金屬 — jinshu — and rock — 石頭 — shitou.
His bone marrow — 骨髓 — gusui — became jade — 玉 — yu — and pearls — 珍珠 — zhenzhu.
His sweat — 汗水 — hanshui — became rain — 雨 — yu — and dew — 露水 — lushui.
The Shuyi Ji — 述異記 — adds one detail the Wuyun Linian Ji does not record.
The fleas — 跳蚤 — tiaozao — and insects — 蟲子 — chongzi — that lived in his fur — 皮毛 — pimao — were carried by the wind. Nourished by the wind. They became the living creatures of the world. They became the animals that run and burrow and fly.
And according to some accounts: they became humanity — 人類 — renlei.
This is the oldest recorded account of human origin in the Chinese tradition.
We are Pangu's parasites — 寄生蟲 — jishengchong — carried by the wind.
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On the disagreements between versions.
The Sanwu Liji records the separation of heaven and earth as the crack of the egg. The Guang Bowuzhi records Pangu as already existing and using an axe to split the chaos. These are not the same story. Both are recorded.
The number of years differs. Some texts say eighteen thousand years for the sleep. The same texts say eighteen thousand years for the holding. Some texts compress these. Some texts expand them. The compression and expansion are noted.
The body transformation differs between the Wuyun Linian Ji and the Shuyi Ji. The Shuyi Ji says his head became the four sacred mountains. The Wuyun Linian Ji says his four limbs became the four sacred directions. Both are recorded. Neither is declared wrong.
Whether his left eye is the sun or his right eye is the sun differs across regional traditions. The version recorded most often in the Han — 漢 — tradition: left is sun, right is moon. This version is the one most widely held.
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On the traditions of other peoples.
The Miao people — 苗族 — Miao Zu — of southern China preserve an ancient oral song. In this song, the creation is described thus:
The white one floated upward.
The black one sank down.
And now we have a broad span of earth.
Pangu is not named in this song. The separation of light and dark is there. The name came later, or did not travel to all the people who held the story.
The Bouyei people — 布依族 — Buyi Zu — hold a different account. In their tradition, Pangu did not die alone and without descendants. After the world was made, he came down to earth. He married the daughter of the Dragon King — 龍王 — Long Wang. They had a son named Xinheng — 新横. Xinheng disrespected his mother. She returned to heaven and refused to come down again despite the pleading of her husband and son. Pangu died on the sixth day of the sixth month — 六月初六 — liu yue chu liu — of the lunar calendar. Every year since, on that day, the Bouyei people observe the death of their ancestor.
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On what came before Pangu in the written record.
The Pangu myth is not found in the Shanhaijing — 山海經. It is not found in the Shijing — 詩經 — Book of Songs. It is not found in any text that predates the Three Kingdoms period — 三國時代.
This does not mean Pangu is a young story.
It means the story was carried in mouths before it was carried in texts. It was an oral tradition — 口頭傳統 — koutou chuantong — before it became a written one. Xu Zheng recorded what the mouths had carried.
The myth is older than the writing.
The writing is what survives.
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After Pangu's body became the world, the world was full of things.
Mountains. Rivers. Stars. Forests. Fields. Wind. Rain. Thunder.
And the creatures carried by the wind from his fur.
But it was empty of one thing.
It had no voices.
The creatures moved and fed and died without language. Without fire. Without shelter. Without record.
The world Pangu left behind was complete in its physical form and silent in its human dimension.
The one who noticed this silence first was Nuwa — 女媧.
What she did about it is the next chapter.
END OF CHAPTER FOUR