The first writer to record the Chinese myth on the creation of world by Pangu was Xu Zheng during the Three Kingdoms period, relatively late in Chinese history. It is interesting to note that the myth shows a total belief in a cyclic nature. When something dies, it becomes something else, as the lice became humans. The myth also shows clearly that the Chinese do not subscribe to the idea that the world was created in a short time of a few days.
‘In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe except a formless mass. It evolved to something like a big hen’s egg. Pan Gu was born inside. After 18 thousand years, the egg cracked. The light, clear part of it floated up and formed the Sky. The cold, turbid matter stayed below to form the Earth. Pan Gu was still inside. Things started to change every day in the Sky and on the Earth. The Sky and the Earth began to grow at a rate of ten feet per day, and Pan Gu grew along with them. After another 18 thousand years, the Sky was higher, the Earth thicker, and Pan Gu stood between them like a pillar ninety thousand miles in height.
Pan Gu was first born in the egg, and before he died, his body started to transform. His breath became the wind and clouds, his voice the rolling thunder. The left eye became the sun and the right eye the moon. His body and limbs turned to five big mountains and his blood formed the roaring water. His veins became far-stretching roads and his muscles fertile land. The innumerable stars in the sky came from his hair and beard, and flowers and trees from his skin and the fine hairs on his body. His marrow turned to jade and pearls. His sweat flowed like the good rain and sweet dew that nurtured all things on earth. The fleas and lice were blown by the wind out of his body and became the ancestors of mankind.’
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第一个写盘古创造天地的中国神话的人是三国时代的徐整；相对中国历史而言，这是相当迟了。
‘In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe except a formless mass. It evolved to something like a big hen’s egg. Pan Gu was born inside. After 18 thousand years, the egg cracked. The light, clear part of it floated up and formed the Sky. The cold, turbid matter stayed below to form the Earth. Pan Gu was still inside. Things started to change every day in the Sky and on the Earth. The Sky and the Earth began to grow at a rate of ten feet per day, and Pan Gu grew along with them. After another 18 thousand years, the Sky was higher, the Earth thicker, and Pan Gu stood between them like a pillar ninety thousand miles in height.
Pan Gu was first born in the egg, and before he died, his body started to transform. His breath became the wind and clouds, his voice the rolling thunder. The left eye became the sun and the right eye the moon. His body and limbs turned to five big mountains and his blood formed the roaring water. His veins became far-stretching roads and his muscles fertile land. The innumerable stars in the sky came from his hair and beard, and flowers and trees from his skin and the fine hairs on his body. His marrow turned to jade and pearls. His sweat flowed like the good rain and sweet dew that nurtured all things on earth. The fleas and lice were blown by the wind out of his body and became the ancestors of mankind.’
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第一个写盘古创造天地的中国神话的人是三国时代的徐整；相对中国历史而言，这是相当迟了。
令人感兴趣的是，这个神话明显有再世的信仰。但一个生命死亡，它重生为另一样东西。如虫变成人。
这个神话也显示中国人不相信这个世界不是在几天内就被创造出来的。
‘天地浑沌如鸡子。盘古生在其中。万八千岁。天地开辟。阳清为天。阴浊为地。盘古在其中。一日九变。神于天。圣于地。天日高一丈。地日厚一丈。盘古日长一丈。如此万八千岁。天数极高。地数极深。盘古极长。故天去地九万里。
首生盘古。垂死化身。气成风云。声为雷霆。左眼为日。右眼为月。四肢五体为四极五岳。血液为江河。筋脉为地里。肌肉为田土。发为星辰。皮肤为草木。齿骨为金石。精髓为珠玉。汗流为雨泽。身之诸虫。因风所感。化为黎甿。’
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