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不知天上宫阙

不知天上宮闕
bù zhī tiānshàng gōngquè
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 I wonder what the palace halls of heaven are like
  2. 2 (poetic) not knowing how things stand in the celestial realm
  3. 3 (lit.) do not know the palace towers of the heavens above

Examples

HSK 7-9
中秋夜望月，难免想起不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年。
Zhōngqiū yè wàng yuè, nánmiǎn xiǎngqǐ bù zhī tiānshàng gōngquè, jīn xī shì hé nián.
Gazing at the moon on Mid-Autumn night, one can't help recalling: 'I wonder what the heavenly palace is like - what year it is up there tonight.'
HSK 7-9
他仰望星空，感叹不知天上宫阙到底如何。
Tā yǎngwàng xīngkōng, gǎntàn bù zhī tiānshàng gōngquè dàodǐ rúhé.
Gazing up at the stars, he marveled - 'I wonder what the palaces of heaven are really like.'

Tips

history
From 苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》 (Su Shi, Northern Song, 1076): 明月几时有？把酒问青天。不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年 (When did the bright moon first appear? Wine in hand, I ask the blue sky. I wonder what the palace halls of heaven are like - what year it is there tonight). Written during the Mid-Autumn Festival while missing his brother Su Zhe. The whole ci is arguably the single most famous poem about the moon in Chinese.
usage
阙 here reads què (palace gate-tower), not quē. Nearly always quoted with the next line 今夕是何年. The phrase 宫阙 = 'palace' (literally the paired gate-towers flanking a palace).

Stroke Order

不 bù
知 zhī
天 tiān
上 shàng
宫 gōng
阙 què