Pangu Creator

English H, Period 2
16 December 2013

Pangu: Creator of the world "The Creation of Heaven and Earth" is a myth that first appeared in Sanwu Liji written by Xu Zheng in the Three Kingdoms Period of ancient China and was spread from the southern ethnic minorities since then, including the Miao and Yao. The story began with the heaven and the earth existing as a whole of chaos that resembled an egg. Pangu, the creator of heaven and earth, slept for 18,000 years inside the turbid “egg” and finally woke up, surprised, in suffocated darkness and chaos. He cut through the darkness with his powerful axe until it exploded, which spitted the heaven and the earth. Pangu held the heaven up with his hands and troded his legs on the land to
These ideas have passed on in Chinese history and are celebrated and honored by normal Chinese. As a tradition, the merits of bravery and determination are applauded and encouraged in family and taught as a life lesson. At the end of the legendary myth, by sacrificing himself, Pangu finally accomplishes his life-long dream of creating a new and beautiful universe with stars, mountains, rivers, etc., for the future of all the other beings. “Pangu felt suffocated [and was determined to fight back and break through the darkness] so he cracked the egg with a broad ax.” In the Chinese culture, they believe heroes, who have bravery, determination, and the willing to fight and sacrifice for others and have created wonderful achievements for China, such as advanced inventions. The Chinese hate cowards, who never even try to achieve accomplishments or fight against the evil ones. These cultural values affect the plot of this story because without the courage and determination inside Pangu, he wouldn’t have the strength and dedication of creating the two most important parts of the universe for others to live in. How the culture values affect the Chinese history and civilization greatly is shown frequently through the revolts and uprising against the corrupt government in Chinese history. It would give innocent people
For example, Chinese culture places its values more in faith in personal relationships than in written rules and procedures for structuring interactions, while American culture values written rules that presumably apply to everyone and are assumed to produce fair, reasonable procedures and decisions. From Pangu’s legend, it seems that there is a common thing in Chinese and American culture, i.e., the hope for goodness and the courage to fight for it. From the beginning of world creation, there was always a hint of formal hierarchy in which they know their position and the customs for behavior in the situation. American cultures have the wishing of informal, egalitarian government where importance of social rankings minimizes. Throughout the Pangu creation myth, Chinese culture taught people to fight against the dark side and evil for a bright future, as evidenced by the frequent uprising against evil government in Chinese history. Both American and Chinese cultures value courage and determination. But the ways to show these values seem different, American culture taught people to directly discuss controversial topics and press personal opinions about what they consider the truth. In traditional Chinese culture, people usually do not like to confront face by face, but tell the difference in opinion in indirect ways. This culture difference could sometimes cause misunderstandings between