Buddhist Dancers: Yellow Crane Tower[1]

(Spring 1927)

Wide, wide flow the nine streams[2] through the Central Land,[3]

One dark, dark line[4] threads south and north.

In the vast haze of mist and rain

Tortoise and Snake[5] lock the great river.

Where has the yellow crane flown?

[1] The Yellow Crane Tower, formerly situated on the Yellow Crane (or Yellow Stork) Promontory west of the city of Wuchang on the bank of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, now stands on the west side of the southern end of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. The tower was destroyed and rebuilt several times in history. The remaining structures were removed during the construction of the bridge in 1955, and the tower was reopened in June 1985 after expansion. According to the "Monograph on Prefectures" in the *Book of the Southern Qi*, an immortal named Zi'an once rode a yellow stork (i.e., crane; the ancient characters for "stork" and "crane" were interchangeable) past the Yellow Crane Promontory. The *Taiping Huanyu Ji* says the immortal riding the crane was named Fei Wenyi, or Fei Yi, who would ride a yellow crane to rest at this tower each time. The tower was named after this. Many literati have written poems expressing their emotions here; the famous lines by Cui Hao of the Tang dynasty, "Once the yellow crane left, it never returned," have been particularly recited through the ages. The author borrows this theme to express the entirely different emotions of a revolutionary.

[2] The nine streams: "Streams" refers to tributaries of a river. It is said that in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, nine tributaries converge with the main stream, hence the name "nine streams." Bao Zhao's poem "Climbing Yellow Crane Promontory" says: "The nine streams draw the vast current."

[3] The Central Land: refers to the central region of China.

[4] One line: refers to the Guangdong-Hankou Railway south of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hankou Railway north of it at that time. In 1957, with the completion of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the two railways were connected and renamed the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway.

[5] Tortoise and Snake lock the great river: Tortoise and Snake refer to Tortoise Hill and Snake Hill. Snake Hill lies by the Yangtze River west of Wuchang city, and Tortoise Hill stands opposite it in Hanyang on the other bank. They face each other across the river as if locking the Yangtze River.

Leaving this place for visitors alone.

I pledge my wine to the surging torrent,

The tide of my heart[1] rises as high as the waves!

[1] The tide of my heart: The author's own note: "In 1927, on the eve of the failure of the Great Revolution, my mood was bleak, and for a time I did not know what to do. That was the spring of that year. In the summer, on August 8th, the Party's emergency conference decided on armed counterattack, and from then on a way out was found."

Mao Zedong's handwritten manuscript of "Buddhist Dancers: Yellow Crane Tower."


"The Tide of My Heart Rises as High as the Waves" (poetic painting)