This study explores the symbol and meaning of the Chinese incense burner called boshanxianglu (博山香爐) focusing on its most important symbolic element, the mountain and dragon motif.*br* Boshanxianglu, which makes its first appearance in the reign of Empreor Wu of Han Dynasty, is an incense burner in the shape of a mountain and was originally called simply "xianglu' or "xunlu" (薰爐) as other types of incense burners. However, considering that it was depicted in the scene of heavenly world in stone reliefs carved inside tombs of Han Dynasty, it is quite possible that it had a specific purpose.*br* We find several particularities in the shape of boshanxianglu, for example, the unstable shape where a couple of mountains are stacked together on a single stem and grotesque peaks where appear fabulous wild animals chased by hunters and immortals. The smoke of the burning incense emitting through the apertures in the lid was intended to create a mysterious atmosphere of mountain and dragons, the supernatural creatures, were almost always located in its stem and base.*br* Boshanxianglu has a close relationship with the immortality cult formulated by a new conception of immortality which was introduced in the Warring States period. The immortality cult was believed to transform human body into that of immortals and thus enable the pursuit of immortality in the paradise. Immortals were regarded as living on a high mountain that connects earth and heaven. Most of the Chinese in the period believed in the heaven where there is a sacred mountain as paradise, on which they can ascend alive. From this it is easily understandable that the cloud pattern, which was the stage of heavenly world in artifacts, slowly changed to the mountain pattern full of bushes. The most popular examples of such sacred mountains are Mt. Gunlun (崑崙山) in the west, which had a symbolic meaning as an axis mundi connecting earth and heaven and an access to the heaven of immortals from ancient times. and Mt. Penglai(蓬萊山) in the east sea, which was regarded as the realm of immortals by the fangshi (方士) of Yen and Qi during Qin and the Eastern Han.*br* The sacred mountains were legendarily described as being narrow at the bottom and broad on the top, and their columns were vertically facing to heaven so that people believed that it was almost impossible to make an access to those mountains. We find in the tomb carvings from Han Dynasty that the sacred mountain was depicted as narrow at the bottom and wider near the peak. This shows that boshanxianglu inherited the shape of these sacred mountains.*br* In boshanxianglu, a dragon is situated under the sacred mountains. Similar dragons are depicted as popular mounts for those ascending to heaven in silk paintings of the Warring States period. They are intermediate beings which fly from the youdu (幽都), nether world, to the realm of immortals in silk paintings found at Mawangdui (馬王堆) and on Mt. Jingque (金雀山). In Shiji (史記) it is stated that only the dragon can fly to the mountain of immortals like Mt. Gunlun. From this, we can understand easily the necessary combination of dragon and mountains of immortals in boshanxianglu.*br* The boshanxianglu, which is a miniature model for sacred mountains, had its function as a kindred of immortal, which stems from the philosophy of sympathetic kinds causing response (同類相動) and the idea of yin and yang and the five elements (陽陰五行說).*br* After Han Dynasty, the making of boshanxianglu and its elaborate symbolism seem to have declined. However, various aspects of boshanxianglu referred to in the literature of the Six Dynasties period are reiterated not in Chinese examples, but in a gilt-bronze incense burner found at N ngsan-ri in Puy in Korea from the Paekche period, which is normally called the "incense burner of dragon and phoenix" (百濟金銅龍鳳香爐). Even though there is a big difference in the age and region, the Paekche gilt-bronze incense burner still maintains remarkably the tradition of Han-Dynasty boshanxianglu.*br* The axis mundi and the symbolism of sacred mountains incorporated in boshanxianglu also became intermingled with the concept of Mt. Meru, the cosmic mountain in Indian Buddhist tradition. Mt. Meru, like Mt. Gunlun, was believed to be the origin of world rivers and the axis mundi with multiple layers. It also has the same shape, which is narrow at the bottom and broad on the top while a dragon links earth with heaven. The identification of two sacred mountains seems to have taken place as Buddhism became sinicized.*br* The symbolism of boshanxianglu is an expression of mythic ideas and world views that occupied the ancient Chinese mind even to the period of Buddhist art, and demonstrates their desperate effort to overcome the limit of human beings by creating a vital link to the realm of immortals in heaven.