It is the mountain said to have supported the heavens, against which the Chinese water god Gonggong smashed his head in a fit of anger, requiring the goddess Nüwa to repair the sky.
Nevertheless, once the spacer between the Earth and Sky was damaged, the land of China was permanently tilted to the southeast, causing all the rivers to flow in that same direction.
The world was conceived as being divided into eight directional divisions, at each of which a mountain pillar supported the sky.
The mountain is mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and is a location mentioned by Qu Yuan in his classic poem Li Sao, one of the Songs of Chu (line 355), which the poet visits during a shamanic, spiritual journey.
Former Chinese leader Mao Zedong also refers to Mount Buzhou in his 1931 poem "Against the First Encirclement Campaign".