central figure in Chinese Taoist legends of creation. P'an Ku, the first man, is said to have come forth from chaos (an egg) with two horns, two tusks, and a hairy body. Some accounts credit him with the separation of heaven and earth, setting the sun, moon, stars, and planets in place, and dividing the four seas. He shaped the earth by chiselling out valleys and stacking up mountains. All this was accomplished from P'an Ku's knowledge of yin–yang, the inescapable principle of duality in all things.