Pan Gu and the Creation of the World
In the beginning, the universe was contained within an egg, inside which the vital forces of yin (dark, feminine, and cold) and yang (bright, masculine, and hot) related to one another.
Within the egg, Pan Gu (also Pan Ku), formed from these forces, slept for 18,000 years. Upon waking, he stretched and broke it open.
The heaviest elements from inside the egg sank downward to form the earth, and the lightest floated upward to form the sky.
Between the earth and the sky stood Pan Gu.
Every day, for another 18,000 years, the earth and the sky drew a little further apart. Pan Gu grew by the same measure, so that the space between them was always filled.
At last, the earth and the sky reached their final positions. Exhausted, Pan Gu lay down to rest. And he was so exhausted that he died. His body and his limbs became mountains. His eyes were transformed into the sun and the moon. His flesh became the earth, his hair the trees and plants, his tears the rivers and seas. His breath became the wind, his voice the thunder and lightning.
And finally... the fleas of Pan Gu... became humankind!