Crow – lucky bird of Wudang Mountains

Many people dislike crows for their ugly appearance, dark plumes and unpleasant cries. It is an unlucky thing to wake up in the morning to see a crow. Even in some sayings，crows represent bad luck. For example, “crow’s mouth” in Chinese means “jinxing mouth” in English and “a crow falls to a black pig” is used to describe that someone has no self-awareness.

However, crows are enshrined in temples in Wudang Mountains because they are divine and can bring good luck to people. Crows there are hugely popular and have a great respect.

Some names of the places in Wudang Mountains also contain “crow”, such as Crow Ridge and Crow Pavilion.

In Wudang Mountains, we can see unique scenery when people feed the crows. If we throw peanuts into the sky，crows will gather to eat the food with various postures, looking like dancing in the air. Green hills and blue waters profile against the flying crows, which set off in harmony between human beings and nature.

Why do crows have such a high reputation in Wudang Mountains? It is said that crows were promoted by “Zhenwu Dadi” (a god of the north and a water deity in Taoism) after he ascended to heaven, because crows helped him get out of the dense forest which sunlight cannot penetrate, when he tried to make pills of immortality in Wudang Mountains.

Honored by Zhenwu Dadi, crows are enshrined in temples. But this just touches the surface. The profound reasons go for the injunctions not to kill and the religious doctrine to admire nature in Taoism. Wudang Mountains is suitable for crows to survive and multiply, which is also a choice of nature. Human beings should peacefully coexist with nature and should not judge crows by their appearances. Making up stories for crows can not only improve the living conditions of crows but also provide unique scenery for us.

Maybe another reason can be found in the thoughts of traditional Taoism to explain this phenomenon. Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, is regarded as “Taishang Laojun” (one of the three supreme gods in Taoism) and Tao Te Ching is the scripture for Taoists, which gives detailed explanations to contradictions in terms of strong and weak, good and evil tangible and intangible and honor and disgrace.

If we let money and promotion go to our heads, great joy will bringssadness. This had been discussed in Tao Te Ching. The cry of crows would warn us and make us get down to the earth.

Life’s journey is filled with bitter and sweat, as well as happiness and sorrow. When we achieve success, we should be more careful, humble and placid, just like the crows in Wudang Mountains. The following success may be just around the corner.

Contributed by Wang Liang and Jiang Yuanbo from Wudang Mountains Tourism Bureau

Edited by Feng Lu and Brian Salter