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不知天上宫阙

不知天上宮闕
bùzhītiānshànggōngquè
phrase

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

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.'
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