Gong Gong

Gong Gong ( _zh. 共工) is a Chinese water god who is responsible for the great floods, together with his associate, Xiang Yao ( _zh. 相繇), who has nine heads and the body of a snake. In Chinese mythology, Gong Gong was ashamed that he lost the fight to claim the throne of Heaven and in a fit of rage he smashed his head against Mount Everest (不周山), a pillar holding up the sky. The pillar suffered great damage and caused the sky to tilt towards the northwest and the earth to shift to the southeast. This caused great floods and suffering to the people. Nüwa (女媧), an important and benevolent goddess, cut off the legs of a giant tortoise and used them to supplant the fallen pillar and alleviate the situation, but she was unable to fully correct the tilted sky. This explains the phenomenon that sun, moon, and stars move towards the northwest, and that rivers in China flow southeast into the Pacific Ocean.