How Humans and The World Were Created

Hey everyone, now every culture has a story of how the world was created and how man came to be. Regardless if you believe them or not, they are a part of a culture's identity and they are really fascinating. Personally, I believe that there are elements of truth behind most legends and many of them share similar traits. So sit back, relax, and we will tell you the story of how life began, according to the Chinese legend. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Chris. Sorry, I couldn't help it. Anyways, let me start. Long story short, we have heaven and earth as we know it thanks to a very dedicated divine being named Pangu. And we owe the existence of human beings to another divine being named Nuwa, a beautiful being with a half-snake body. But we will get to her later. Legend has it that a long, long time ago, the heaven and the earth were one. The entire universe was contained in an egg-shaped cloud. Yes, and everything in this egg swirled chaotically. Deep within the swirling matter was Pangu, a huge giant who grew in the chaos. For 18,000 years, he developed and slept in the egg. Finally, one day, he awoke and stretched, and the egg broke to release the matter of the universe. The lighter, impure elements drifted upwards to make the sky and the heavens, and the heavier, impure elements settled down to make the earth. In this new world, Pangu was worried that chaos might again be created if heaven and earth mixed once more. So he decided to use his own body to hold them apart. Very selfless indeed. That's right. For another 18,000 years, Pangu continued to grow until the heavens were 30,000 li above the earth. You can say that his sole mission in life was to keep the heavens and the earth from meshing with each other. But as you can imagine, holding the heavens and earth apart 24 hours a day can get pretty tiring, even for a divine being. So Pangu died shortly after he was satisfied with the job he did. Talk about sacrificing yourself for a good cause. Say that again. But his life and strength were not all he contributed to the world. When Pangu died, his last breath turned into clouds. His voice became the thunder, his left eye became the moon, and his right eye became the sun. His hair and beard became the stars in the sky, his body formed the four directions as well as the mountains. His blood became rivers, his veins became roads, his muscles became crop fields, and his teeth and bones became minerals and metals. His skin became the grass and the trees, and his sweat became rain. Thus, the universe was created, and life on the young earth began. It was a place of beauty and peace. Spirits from other planes, both good and bad ones, started to enter it. One of the spirits who descended from heaven was Nuwa, a powerful female spirit with a half-snake body. Don't be alarmed by the half-snake body, kids. Nuwa was beautiful and kind, and we ought to thank her for our good looks. Yes, Nuwa wandered on earth, but soon she grew lonely. So she thought, why not make myself some company? She took some yellow mud from a nearby river and made a little mud figure who resembled herself. But instead of a snake body, she gave him legs. And to think we could have almost had snake bodies. Anyways, she breathed life into the little tiny mud figure. Nuwa took two small stones from the river and put them on the little man's face, which became his eyes. The stones were watery, and that's why people have tears. But as soon as he could see, he tried to run to see things, even though he wasn't complete. So Nuwa pulled him by the side of his head, pinching it accidentally. This resulted in ears on each side of his head. You guys remember when or if your parents pull your ears when you don't behave? Many say that this is because Nuwa did it too. Yes, but Nuwa did it to create ears, and parents seem to yank the ears to pull them off. Anyways, later in the evening, Nuwa created a woman to accompany the first man. That's why it was said that a man should be courageous like the sun, and a woman should be gracious like the moon. Right, because the man was created at day, and the woman at night. After seeing all this, Nuwa became very excited and worked tirelessly to create more humans, but she just wasn't creating them fast enough. So one day, she got lazy, and she took a vine and dipped it into the mud. She spun the vine, and drops of mud flew everywhere, and everywhere a drop of mud landed, a human was created. Couldn't she have just done that in the first place? Well, she is a divine being, I'm pretty sure she can do whatever she wants, but her effortlessness showed in these hastily created mud people. They were imperfect. Some of the people created from the drops were missing limbs and were incomplete, and those became the people who had disabilities or were sick. Legend says the men crafted by Nuwa's own hands became the royal and noble people. Men made from the mud drop became the commoners. But, no offense to our ancestors, but that's really weird and not so fair. Well, all legends have their flaws, and that's just how the ancient Chinese people roll. So how do you like this legend, Chris? Well, this is my own opinion, what is my own opinion on this matter? I love how they just inserted that in there. Uh, well I do think it's interesting that so many stories about the creation of man have it that men were created in the image of divine beings. I mean, I personally love Chinese legends, and there are so many of them. Also, honestly, we should have a holiday to celebrate Pangu. I mean, the man did die so that we have a place to live. Well, we did commemorate him with a phrase, kind of like a four-character 成语. What? Well, it's in Chinese. The whole tale about Pangu is referred to with only six characters, and everyone knows this. It's called 盘古开天辟地. Basically, every Chinese can get all we talked about in just six characters. Yep, that's right. So let us know what you think about this legend. If you like this video, please like, subscribe, and leave a comment below. And definitely don't forget to check out more NTD TV programming. If you live in L.A., New York, or San Francisco, we have NTD information for your local areas in the description box below. Be sure to check out my own channel, NTD China Uncensored, for a funny look at contemporary Chinese politics and culture. Great. Thanks for watching, everyone. Bye!