How to read

This is 璇玑图 presented as a square. Instead of a single fixed reading order, you can trace many different paths through the same characters—each path can become a line, and many lines can become a new poem.

1. Press / hold a character.
2. Drag across adjacent characters to form a trail.
3. Release to translate (if Auto translate is enabled).
4. Undo one step by dragging back onto the previous character.

Try diagonals, rings, spirals, mirrored routes, or “threading” through one color at a time.

What the colors mean

The colors are not boundaries. They’re a reading guide: each color represents a different “mode” or family of routes—different ways of threading through the square to reveal different verses. You can choose a color region as a constraint, and trace within it to explore a particular reading.

• Cinnabar — one reading mode (outer-path style)
• Lapis — one reading mode (field-path style)
• Ochre — one reading mode (inner-path style)
• Purple — one reading mode (core-path style)
• Ink — separator / contrast to help your eye track routes
• Teal — special emphasis marks within a mode

History

A historical pointer you mentioned (context for grid-like “reading instruments”):

Wikipedia: Star Gauge

Creator’s note

I find the idea of a poem being comprised of other poems, hidden in plain sight, beautiful. I first felt the urge to translate and explore this form when I saw it here:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-XA7_iUXs

I hope this website helps people like me, who can’t read Chinese, still understand something of this fascinating poem, and discover their own paths through it.

I’m not an expert in the language or in the historical scholarship around this work. If you notice a mistake (in the text, translation, layout, or explanations), please feel free to correct it—pull requests and issues are welcome.

Source code: GitHub repository

— Atharva Rasane LinkedIn Website