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Nüwa repairs the heaven


When Pan Gu separated the Heaven and the Earth, the sky likes a canopy covering  and protecting the Earth. As time went by, the columns which supporting the sky began to rot and the land began to crack. Heaven did not completely cover the earth; Earth did not hold up Heaven all the way around its circumference. Lava and putrid water oozed up from underground; Fires blazed out of control and could not be extinguished; The sky would drop rain, hail, and meteors day and night; Water flooded in great expanses and would not recede. Ferocious animals ate blameless people; predatory birds snatched the elderly and the weak.

Thereupon, the God sent down His daughter Nüwa to repair the Earth and Sky. Nüwa smelted together five-colored stones to patch up the azure sky, and the surging waters were drained; the Earth was again tranquil; crafty vermin died off; blameless people preserved their lives.

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One year, the God of Fire Zhu Rong and Gong Gong fought each other. Gong Gong, whose duty was to administer the criminal law, became violent and played the tyrant. He did not rule properly. He also fought with the god of fire Zhurong and was not victorious, when, falling into a rage, he butted with his head against the Incomplete Mountain, and brought it down. The 'pillar of heaven' was broken and a corner of the earth was wanting.

Nüwa then fused five-coloured stones to repair heaven, cut off the feet of a tortoise to establish the four extremities of earth, collected the ashes of burnt reeds to stop the inundation. The land and sky largely returned to normal, with only the sky in the northwest and the land in the southeast remaining unmendable and a little more tilted than before. So now, the sun and stars fall into the west and the rivers all flw to the southeast.

After this the earth was at rest, the heaven made whole and the old things were unchanged.

Nüwa died, and Shennong began his reign.
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