The Cosmic Egg

Once free of the egg, P’an Ku set about separating the Ying and the Yang into the sky and the earth. P’an Ku, is usually depicted as a dwarf with thick black hair wearing a bearski. I fact he never stopped growing.  On each day he grew six feet taller than the day before.  His body was the pillar that prised the heaven and earth apart.  P’an Ku dug the valleys, raised up the mountans and formed the rivers of the world.  When he cried, his tears became the Yellow River, which is sometimes known as China’s sorrow because of its propensity to flood.

Pango depicted on a stamps issued by the Republic of China on the 6th of February 1993 Source Wikipeda.

The other creatures that hatched from the egg helped P’An Ku in his task.  These were the Unicorn, the Dragon, the Phoenix and the Tortoise.

After 18,000 years the task seemed complete.  The earth was separared from the heavems.  Except that the world could never be finished unless P’An Ku died.  His death was needed to perfect the universe. 

When P’an Ku died the Uhicorn, Dragon, Phoenix and the Tortoise dispersed across the Earth. The breath of P’an Ku became the wind and the clouds.  His voice became thunder.  His eyes became the sun and moon. His blood became the rivers.  His limbs became the five sacred mountains of China. The east mountain arose from his head, the central mountan, Sung, grew from his body, the the north mountain, Heng, grew  from his right arm, and the mountain of the south grew from his right arm. The Hua mountain of the west arose from his feet. 

One myth believes that humankind is descended from the parisites, the lice and the fleas, that lived on the body and in the hair of P’An Ku.

Another interpretation says that he made the people out of clay. When he left them out in the sun to dry the rains fell.  Some of the clay figurines broke in his rush to take them to shelter and that is why there are disabled people on earth.