Mount Buzhou
The pillar of heaven in Chinese myth that the god Gonggong smashed with his head, tilting sky and earth.
- Appears in
- Classic of Mountains and Seas; Chuci; Huainanzi
- Name
- 不周山, 'Unrevolving Mountain'
- Role
- One of the pillars holding up the sky
- Myth
- Broken by the water god Gonggong
- Said to lie
- Northwest of the Kunlun Mountains
What is Mount Buzhou known for?
Mount Buzhou is a mythical mountain in ancient Chinese cosmology, one of the pillars that held up the sky. It is named in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and in the Songs of Chu, and later poets from Li Bai to Mao Zedong alluded to it. Texts place it northwest of the Kunlun Mountains; some modern writers have tried to match it with the Pamirs.
The best-known story comes from the Huainanzi, a Han dynasty compendium of the 2nd century BCE. The water god Gonggong, losing a struggle with Zhuanxu for rule of the world, butts his head against Mount Buzhou. The pillar breaks, the cords holding the earth snap, the sky tilts toward the northwest and the land toward the southeast.
The myth explains why the sun, moon and stars move toward the west and why China's great rivers flow east. In related stories, the goddess Nüwa repairs the broken sky.
Gonggong's head-butt against Mount Buzhou is the cause of the cosmic flood and tilt in Chinese myth.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeGonggong
- Rabbit holeNüwa
- PassageThe sky breaks and Nüwa repairs it (Huainanzi 6)
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Mount Buzhou'Reference
- Huainanzi, ch. 3 'Tian Wen Xun' (Chinese Text Project)Primary text
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