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Creation Myths articles and guides

Creation Myths of the Shanhaijing: How the World Was Made (Multiple Times)

Chinese mythology does not have one creation story. It has several — Pangu splitting chaos, Nüwa molding humans from clay, the separation of heaven and earth. Each tells a different truth about the world's origin.

5 min read

Gonggong Breaks the Pillar of Heaven

A water god loses a battle and headbutts a mountain so hard the sky cracks open. It sounds absurd — until you realize it explains why rivers flow east and stars drift north.

11 min

Nuwa Creates Humanity from Clay

She made the first humans by hand, one by one. Then she got tired and started flicking mud off a rope. That second batch? That is most of us.

12 min

Pangu and the Cosmic Egg: Chinese Creation Story

Before there was anything, there was an egg. Inside it, a giant slept for eighteen thousand years. When he woke up, he made the world — and it cost him everything.

12 min

The Ten Suns: When the Sky Caught Fire

Ten suns rose at once and the world burned. Crops withered, rivers boiled, and monsters crawled out of the scorched earth. Then one archer changed everything.

11 min

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