Wong Tai Sin lot 21 of 100
Wu Zetian admires the flowers
Good (中吉). Grade as given on the named web transcriptions. We have not seen it on a temple printing, and we do not know that the temple prints one.
天外紅霞如抹錦
檻邊桃杏鬥新妝
盈眸煙熳誰居首
美酒頻斟且酌量
Beyond the sky red clouds spread like a strip of brocade.
By the railing, peach and apricot compete in fresh finery.
Eyes full of hazy bloom: which one is first?
Pour the fine wine often, but measure it.
What this lot says
A sumptuous scene of colour and blossom, with a question about which flower is best. The advice at the end is to enjoy the wine and keep to a measure.
It reads as favourable, with the restraint in the last line as the one condition.
A lot is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
The story behind it
Wu Zetian admires the flowers (武則天賞花)
A traditional allusion named with this lot. We have not traced the story to a source we could read, so we do not retell it here.
Where this text comes from
This verse is a traditional temple text with no known author, here read from named web transcriptions. We compared the sites character by character and show every difference. We could not establish whether the sites are independent of one another, and we have not read a temple printing.
Fortune Sticks (fortunesticks.org) (the text shown above)
天外紅霞如抹錦 / 檻邊桃杏鬥新妝 / 盈眸煙熳誰居首 / 美酒頻斟且酌量
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
天外紅霞如抹錦 / 檻邊桃杏斗新妝 / 盈眸煙熳誰居首 / 美酒頻斟且酌量
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
天外紅霞如抹錦 / 檻邊桃杏鬥新粧 / 盈眸煙熳誰居首 / 美酒頻斟且酌量
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 2, character 5: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk read 鬥; luckeyes.com reads 斗. This is the same character in a different written form.
- Line 2, character 7: fortunesticks.org and luckeyes.com read 妝; andy.hk reads 粧. This is the same character in a different written form.
- The allusion in the lot title: the temple's website (Sik Sik Yuen, taonet.siksikyuen.org.hk) names it 吳穩之會宴.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.