圣经里，上帝创造了世界，而在中国神话里，世界是由一位名叫盘古的巨人创造的。盘古开天辟地，是中国神话中的“创世纪”。

很久很久以前，整个世界就像一只巨大的蛋，浑浊不清，既没有光也没有声音。就在这样的环境下，人类的祖先——盘古——出生了。他在混沌中沉睡了无数年后终于醒来。他手里有一把斧头，于是就不停地往外挖，想离开这个黑暗的世界。终于有一天，世界被他劈开：清的东西往上飘形成了天，浊的东西往下沉形成了地。

盘古担心天地重新合并，就用双手撑着天，双脚踩着地。他顶天立地，又站了无数年。天地之间的距离每天都在增加，盘古的身体也越来越大。他死的时候，把整个身体都献给了世界：盘古的两只眼睛变成太阳和月亮，头发变成天上的星星；他口里吐出的气变成风和云，他的声音变成雷，汗水变成雨；他的身体变成山，肌肉变成田；他的皮肤变成草木，他的血液变成江河湖海。

据说，中国最著名的五座大山——五岳，就是盘古的头和四肢变成的。

Slow Chinese 17
Pangu splits the heavens and earth apart
According to the bible, God created the world. But in Chinese legend, the world was created by a giant called Pangu. The story of Pangu is Chinese legend’s central creation myth or Genesis.

Eons ago, the whole world resembled a giant egg, and there was neither light nor sound amidst the turbid murk. In this environment, humanity’s ancient ancestor Pangu was born. He finally awoke with an axe in his hands after laying dormant amidst the primal chaos for many thousands of years, whereupon he ceaselessly dug outward, wanting to escape this darkness. Finally one day, the world was cleaved open: the light floated up to become the sky; the dark floated down to become the earth.

Pangu was worried that the skies and earth would again merge, so he used his hands to support the sky and planted his feet into the earth. Supporting the heavens and earth with his indomitable spirit, he stood for thousands of years. Every day, the distance between the sky and the earth increased, and Pangu’s body grew bigger. When he died, he dedicated his whole body to the earth: his two eyes became the sun and the moon, his hair became the stars in the heavens; the breath from his mouth became the wind and the clouds; his voice became the thunder, his sweat became the rain; his body became the mountains, his flesh became the fields; his skin became the vegetation, his blood became the rivers and lakes.
It is said that the Wuyue, China’s most famous Five Sacred Mountains of the Daoists, are Pangu’s head and limbs.

Neil Armstrong ([email protected])

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