Guanqi xiayu 灌畦暇語

Guanqi xiayu 灌畦暇語 "Leisure-time talks of one who waters his fields" is a "brush-notes"-style writing (biji 筆記) written by an unknown person of the mid- or late Tang period 唐 (618-907) who called himself Laopu 老圃 "Old Gardener".

The book consists of 32 short chapters and is fed by Daoist thought of retirement from worldly matters. Even if written by a non-expert, the author seems to have understand the theoretical fundament of Daoist philosophy. The book was not widely spread and is not listed in the bibliographical chapters of the official dynastic histories Xintangshu 新唐書 or Songshi 宋史, but is first listed in the catalogue Zhizhai shulu jieti 直齋書錄解題. The earliest print was published by the Qijin Studio 奇晉齋 and includes an afterword by the editor, Li Dongyang 李東陽 (1447-1516), who says that he discovered a manuscript of the book on the market, but the text was in a bad state and had to be revised and somewhat supplemented by Li. This means that the transmitted version is not the original version of the book.

The text is found in the series Xuehai leibian 學海類編, Qijinzhai congshu 奇晉齋叢書, Yipu souqi 藝圃搜奇, Danshengtang yuyuan 淡生堂餘苑, Jigutang zashuo 稽古堂雜說 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書.