Yang Hu kept a crane at home, pure white with a single red spot on its head, and he adored it, often feeding it by hand. After eating, the crane would sometimes stroll leisurely through the courtyard with delicate steps, like a refined gentleman, or flap its wings in a rhythmic dance, moving slowly then swiftly. Whenever this happened, Yang Hu would beam with joy and exclaim, "Wonderful! Truly a remarkable crane!"
One day, a guest visited Yang Hu, who proudly praised his crane for its intelligence and ability to dance. Intrigued, the guest asked to see the "crane dance." Yang Hu led him to the garden to find the bird, but the shy crane, frightened by the stranger, had hidden behind a tree. After much effort, they flushed it out, only to find its once-pristine feathers now dirty and disheveled from the brush, its head drooping low. No amount of coaxing could make it dance. Disappointed, the guest remarked, "So it's just another crane that won't dance!"
"Bu Wu Zhi He," meaning a crane that does not dance, is an idiom used to mock incompetent people, and later also used as a self-deprecating expression.
Source: Liu Yiqing (Southern Song Dynasty), *A New Account of the Tales of the World*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "不舞之鹤" came to describe a crane that does not dance is an idiom used to mock incompetent people and later also used as a self-deprecating expression.