Myths of China: Timeless Tales from The Shan Hai Jing 180g LP (Vinyl)

According to ancient Chinese legend, Pangu, the creator of the earth, was asleep for 18,000 years, before rising to form the face of the landscape from the hairs on his head, and the great oceans from his blood, the first source of all the water of the world. The Yellow River soon begins to flow, its rushing torrents like a song echoing in vast and empty sky. On the riverbank, the goddess Nüwa created giant stones of all colors and used them to repair the holes in the sky, after which she formed the first humans from clay from the river basin. Imbuing her new creations with the gift of life, under the light of the moon, the first footprint is left upon the ground. On the opposite bank, Fuxi, the mythic first male in all creation, initiated the forces of yin and yang energy, and from the first seeds of wisdom and knowledge, began to compile the mankind’s first steps to self-awareness such as tying knots to track the passage of time.

After countless aeons, the world froze and thawed in succession, until one day, the earth finally wrenched open with a cataclysmic burst, clouds of steam bellowing from beneath the surface. It was after this that giant Kuafu strode over the jutting peaks of the mountains, forever leaving the marks of his footprints across the land as he chased the sun into the distance. Much later, the legendary emperor Yu the Great led his people as they battled with the torrential floods for 13 years, finally transformed the flood waters into the clouds in the sky, to forever soar above the land, never to harm them again.