In the
beginning there was darkness everywhere, and Chaos ruled. Within the darkness
there formed an egg, and inside the egg the giant Pangu came into being. For
aeons, safely inside the egg, Pangu slept and grew. When he had grown to
gigantic size he stretched his huge limbs and in so doing broke the egg. The lighter
parts of the egg floated upwards to form the heavens and the denser parts sank
downwards, to become the earth. And so was formed earth and sky, the Yin and
the Yang.
Pangu saw what
had happened and he was pleased. But he feared that heaven and earth might meld
together again, so he placed himself between them, his head holding up the sky
and his feet firmly upon the earth. Pangu continued to grow at a rate of ten
feet a day for 18,000 years, so increasing the distance between heaven and
earth, until they seemed fixed and secure, 30,000 miles apart. Now exhausted,
Pangu went back to sleep and never woke up.
Pangu died,
and his body went to make the world and all its elements. The wind and clouds
were formed from his breath, his voice was thunder and lightning, his eyes
became the sun and moon, his arms and his legs became the four directions of
the compass and his trunk became the mountains. His flesh turned into the soil
and the trees that grow on it, his blood into the rivers that flow and his
veins into paths men travel. His body hair became the grass and herbs, and his
skin the same, while precious stones and minerals were formed from his bones
and teeth. His sweat became the dew and the hair of his head became the stars
that trail throughout heaven. As for the parasites on his body, these became
the diverse races of humankind.
(http://www.livingmyths.com/Chinese.htm)