Wong Tai Sin lot 44 of 100
Judging the flowers in the Tianbao years
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.
滿園春色鬥新妝
意似爭妍奪國香
到底是誰居麗首
牡丹艷冠百花場
Spring colour fills the garden, each flower competing in new dress.
They seem to vie to win the title of national fragrance.
In the end, who takes first place for beauty?
The peony's splendour crowns the whole flower field.
What this lot says
A flower contest, and the verse names the winner: the peony.
It reads as favourable for anyone who is the clear front-runner, and a mild reminder that in a crowded field one entrant usually stands out.
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
Judging the flowers in the Tianbao years (唐天寶評花)
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)
滿園春色鬥新妝 / 意似爭妍奪國香 / 到底是誰居麗首 / 牡丹艷冠百花場
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
滿園春色斗新妝 / 意似爭妍奪國香 / 到底是誰居麗首 / 牡丹艷冠百花場
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
滿園春色鬥新粧 / 意似爭妍奪國香 / 到底是誰居麗首 / 牡丹艷冠百花場
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 1, character 5: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk read 鬥; luckeyes.com reads 斗. This is the same character in a different written form.
- Line 1, character 7: fortunesticks.org and luckeyes.com read 妝; andy.hk reads 粧. This is the same character in a different written form.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.