📖 Meaning
The idiom expresses nostalgic longing for the past and one's homeland. It also laments the perils of an official career and the impermanence of human life—how the simple joys once taken for granted can never be recovered once fortune turns against you.
📜 Origin Story
In the Western Jin dynasty (265–316), the celebrated poet and writer Lu Ji (陆机) of Wujun was defeated at the Battle of Heqiao in 303. Afterwards he was slandered by his rival Lu Zhi and sentenced to death. Facing execution, Lu Ji sighed: 'Do I still wish to hear the cranes of Huating cry—can that ever be again?' Huating was his hometown, and listening to its cranes had once been an everyday pleasure he never valued. The tale was recorded by Liu Yiqing in A New Account of the Tales of the World (Shishuo Xinyu), compiled during the Liu Song dynasty of the Southern Dynasties, in the chapter on regrets (Youhui).
💡 Example Usage
多年后他重游故地，不禁生出鹤唳华亭之感，往事历历在目。
Years later, when he revisited his old haunts, a wave of nostalgic longing washed over him, the past flooding back as vividly as ever.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 鹤唳华亭
- Pinyin: hè lì huá tíng
- Literal Translation: crane, cry, Huating
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4