Mount Kunlun is the mythological mountain regarded in Chinese cosmology as an axis connecting the human world, Heaven, and the divine realm.
Kunlun is not simply a reference to the modern Kunlun mountain range. In mythology, it is a sacred, remote mountain or mountain complex whose base reaches deep into the earth and whose summit rises toward Heaven. Its descriptions include jade cliffs, magical plants, strange animals, immortals, and routes to longevity.
The mountain is closely associated with Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, whose paradise is often placed on or around Kunlun. Myths also make it the setting for encounters involving immortals, deities, and legendary rulers. Because it links earthly and celestial realms, Kunlun functions as an axis mundi, or “world axis.”
Kunlun’s exact location was never fixed. Ancient sources place it in different directions, and later traditions connected it with ideas from Mount Sumeru and Indian cosmology. Mount Buzhou is a different mythic mountain, famously damaged in the story of the sky’s collapse, while Mount Hua and Mount Tai are sacred real-world mountains with their own traditions.