The crane is one of the most common motifs in Hua-Niao genre paintings.
Like pines and rocks, the crane symbolizes longevity as well as wisdom. The character 鹤 (pinyin: hè, “crane”) is a homophone for the character 合 (pinyin: hé, “peace, harmony”).
Embroidery featuring cranes was part of the insignia of high-ranking imperial officials [9]. The character 鹳 (pinyin: guàn), used to denote both storks and cranes, is a homophone of 官 (pinyin: guān, “official”) and 冠 (pinyin: guàn, “to attain the highest rank”), so an image of a crane can symbolize the aspiration to reach the highest official position.
The crane (鹤, hè) and the lotus (荷, hé), when depicted together, represent a wish for peace and harmony (和, hé), as all three characters are also homophones.
Typically, the crane is depicted standing alone on one leg in the tidal waters, which can also be interpreted as a visual pun, since the characters 潮 (pinyin: cháo, “tide”) and 朝 (pinyin: cháo, “dynasty, imperial court,” as well as “to have an audience with the emperor”) are pronounced the same way.
An image of a crane standing in tidal waters represents a high-ranking official attending an audience with the emperor. A crane standing on a rock symbolizes the official achieving the highest rank. Moreover, the expression 独立 (pinyin: dúlì, “standing independently”) is a homophone of another character combination 独力 (pinyin: dúlì, “by one’s own effort, independently, without outside help”), so the depiction of a solitary crane symbolizes an official who successfully passed the state examinations for a position in the high-ranking bureaucracy and attained their prestigious title through diligent study.