黃鶴樓今位於湖北省武漢市的武昌區，始建於三國時代吳黃武二年，即公元223年。自古以來黃鶴樓的來源有著不同版本的傳說。有傳說指黃鶴樓是為了軍事而建，是三國時代吳國君主孫權要求興建的；而其他的傳說，則多與神仙及黃鶴有關，這些傳說似乎在嘗試告訴觀者黃鶴樓之名的由來。黃鶴樓與湖南的岳陽樓及江西的滕王閣並列為江南三大名樓。歷經多代，黃鶴樓曾被多次破壞但亦經過多次修復。今日所見的黃鶴樓是在1985年時重建，共五層高，主要以鋼筋混凝土構成。

 

黃鶴樓的傳說基乎都與神仙及黃鶴有關。如《南齊書》中記載，有仙人名子安曾乘黃鶴經過，後便有人為此建樓，名黃鶴樓；又有另一說法是源自《報應錄》。書中提到一位姓辛以賣酒為業的人，遇到一位看上去十分貧窮但又異於一般乞丐的客人，神色從容地詢求酒喝。辛先生聽罷立即為他盛上酒，雖然這位客人一直未付出酒錢，但辛先生每次都不厭其煩地請這位客人喝酒。直到一天這客人向辛先生表達長久而來的歉意，從一籃子裡拿出橘子皮，在牆上畫下一隻黃鶴，然後以手打下拍子哼起歌，牆上的黃鶴聞聲起舞，酒館的其他客人看見都不禁為此驚奇並為此付錢。客人教辛先生，只要拍手，牆上的鶴便會由此起舞。過了十年，辛先生因此而得到許多財富。然後又一天那個客人再次來到店裡，辛先生向他表示願意供養他，但客人則笑言並非為此，然後拿出一枝笛子吹奏，一朵白雲自天上而來，牆上鶴翩然飛下，客人便乘著這鶴，隨白雲飛天而去。辛先生為表達謝意及紀念這位客人，而建了黃鶴樓。這個故事還有另一版本，就是十年後辛先生因財富變得貪婪，客人看見便決定不再幫助辛先生，乘鶴離去；在另一典籍《鄂州圖經》中，則提到過去曾有名費褘的人成仙後乘鶴經過一地，然後便有人將該地的一座樓命名為黃鶴樓。這裡的費褘應指三國時期蜀國大將軍的費褘。

 

除卻傳說，黃鶴樓在歷史上也常被詩人唱頌，成為詩人賦詩的題材。如唐詩人崔顥的《黃鶴樓》可說是把黃鶴樓名揚天下，「昔人已乘黃鶴去，此地空餘黃鶴樓」成千古名句之一。又有「詩仙」李白的《黃鶴樓送孟浩然之廣陵」，「故人西辭黃鶴樓，煙花三月下揚州」，盡訴送別情。提及李白和崔顥，不得不提傳說李白到訪黃鶴樓後，本亦欲題詩，但見崔顥的詩後，無論怎麼寫也不及崔顥的好，而寫下一首打油詩：「一拳擊碎黃鶴樓，兩腳踢翻鸚鵡洲。眼前有景道不得，崔顥題詩在上頭。」。當然，不僅是崔顥和李白，歷代的文人都為黃鶴樓留下文字，而這一切與屬於黃鶴樓的傳說，都使這座歷史悠久的高樓的魅力歷久不衰。

 

在2011年，黃鶴樓傳說被納入為中國第三批國家級非物質文化遺產。

​

The Yellow Crane Tower is located in present day’s Wuchang district, in Wuhan city. The Yellow Crane Tower is one of the Three Great Towers of China. The original tower is believed to have been built in AD223.  The tower has been destroyed and rebuilt several times, and the current tower was rebuilt in 1985. The modern Yellow Crane Tower has five floors built of reinforced concrete.

 

There are several versions of legends related to the Yellow Crane Tower. One legend says the Yellow Crane Tower was first built for military purposes during the Three Kingdom period. In other versions, the legend of Yellow Crane Tower relates to immortals, most of ten with the inclusion of a yellow crane. According to the Book of Qi, there was an immortal named Wang Zi’an who rode away from Snake Mountain on a yellow crane, and the Yellow Crane Tower was built to commemorate this event. Another story from Baoyinglu(報應錄) is more detailed. It talks about a man named Xin who made a living by running a small tavern. He met a man wearing ragged clothes who asked for wine. Xin offered a bowl of wine for the man and did not charge him for the wine. The poor man continued to come every day and ask for wine, but Xin never rejected him and did not feel any impatience towards this man in ragged clothes. He gave him a bowl of wine each time without charging him. One day, the poor man apologized to Xin for owing him money for the wine. He said he had no money to pay, but took out an orange peel and used it to draw a yellow crane on the wall, and then clapped his hands and sang. The crane on the wall came off the wall and started to dance. All the other people in the tavern were amazed, and were willing to pay for this performance. The man told Xin that whenever he clapped his hands, the crane would come off the wall and dance. Xin subsequently earned a lot of money by showing this performance to an audience. After ten years, the came to see Xin again. Xin told him that he was willing to support the poor man for the rest of his life but the man only smiled and said that he did not come for this. He took out a flute and played some music. Clouds then descended from the sky and the crane came off the wall. The man rode on the crane and flew with the clouds towards the sky. Xin built up a tower and named it Yellow Crane Tower to express his gratitude to the man and commemorate him. There is another version for this story. In another version of the tale, Xin had become greedy after ten years and when the man came back he felt disappointed. At the end, he rode on the yellow crane to the sky. Xin felt regret and built up a Yellow Crane Tower to honor the man and his crane. There also other legends related to the Yellow Crane Tower from other books like E’zhou Tujing(鄂州圖經), which mentioned an immortal called Fei Yi who rode on a yellow crane and passed through Snake Mountain to take a rest, and a tower was built to commemorate this event.  It is thought that Fei Yi might have been a politician of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.

 

Apart from being mentioned in legends, the Yellow Crane Tower has also been a popular topic in poetry. The poem by Tang dynasty Cui Hao(崔顥) is one of the most famous poems about the tower. The line ‘Long ago one’s gone riding the yellow crane, all that remained is the Yellow Crane Tower’ (昔人已乘黃鶴去，此地空餘黃鶴樓) is very familiar to many people, and recalled by them when talking about the Yellow Crane Tower. Another poem is by the ‘immortal poet’ Li Bai (李白) from the Tang dynasty, titled “Seeing off Meng Haoran for Guangling at Yellow Crane Tower” (黃鶴樓送孟浩然之廣陵). The tower is mentioned in the line, ‘My old friends said goodbye to the west, here at Yellow Crane Tower, in the third month’s cloud of willow blossoms. He’s going down to Yangzhou’ (故人西辭黃鶴樓，煙花三月下揚州).  There is also a story about Li Bai and Cui Hao.  It is said that Li Bai had climbed up the tower and wanted to wrote a poem about it. However, when he saw the poem by Cui Hao he found that it was hard to write another one better than his poem. At last he wrote down a limerick, “Breaking down the Yellow Crane Tower with a punch, kicked over Yingwuzhou with two legs. The scenery on the front is hard to describe, because of the poem by Cui Hao left on the top” (一拳擊碎黃鶴樓，兩腳踢翻鸚鵡洲。眼前有景道不得，崔顥題詩在上頭).

 

Besides Cui Hao and Li Bai, many other poets had also played homage or made reference to the Yellow Crane Tower in their poetry. With all these mysterious legends and amazing poetry, the Yellow Crane Tower has become a renowned historical architectural structure of China. In 2011, the legend of Yellow Crane Tower was included on the third batch of the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China.