According to Chinese lore, in the beginning there was nothing in the universe but a dark, formless chaos. The mythic hero Pangu, who had been sleeping in the chaos for 18,000 years, woke up. Realizing that he was confined to this dark and chaotic environment, he decided to break free from the cosmic egg that held him. He mightily swung his giant axe to smash through the chaos, cleaving the egg into halves, pieces shattering in all directions. This caused the lighter parts of the universe to rise