otoh

Master Chang, my Tai Chi teacher, used to teach Chinese Literature. In class we sometimes get into conversations about Chinese history, art, and literature. A few months ago he was telling us about an old legend of the Yellow Crane summarized here as

…in Wuchang, there used to be a wine shop opened by a young man named Xin. One day, a Taoist priest, in gratitude for free wine, drew a magic crane on the wall of the shop and instructed it to dance whenever it heard clapping. Thousands of people came to see the spectacle and the wine shop was always full of guests. After 10 years, the Taoist priest revisited the wine shop. He played the flute and then rode on the crane to the sky. In memory of the supernatural encounter and the priest, the Xins built a tower and named it Yellow Crane Tower.

That tower overlooks the Yangtze River and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries. The legend and the tower have inspired hundreds of poems (at least one by Chairman Mao), but the definitive version was by Cui Hao during the Tang dynasty. There is a related story that Li Bai, one of China’s greatest poets, once climbed the Yellow Crane Tower intending to write his own poem about it. But he found Cui Hao’s poem inscribed on the wall and was so moved by its perfection that he put down his brushpen, unable to write. Of course he eventually began writing again and several of his works refer to the Yellow Crane Tower. Probably most notable is his Goodbye at Yellow Crane Tower.

Now, I told you all that so I could tell you this: After that discussion in Tai Chi class I looked at several of these sources online and picked up a book of Chinese poetry at the bookstore. I had it with me in class and Master Chang asked me about it and told me about some of the poems it contained. I mentioned that, although I like the book very much, it does not have any of the Yellow Crane Tower poems in it. At our next class he surprised me with this:

He wrote out Cui Hao’s poem for me. (Someday, I’ll be able to read it. For now it’s just really cool and a sweet gift.) I really need to get it framed….

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