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五百石洞天揮塵卷數 Header: Volume List of the Five Hundred Stones Grotto: Wielding the Whisk

Volume List of the Five Hundred Stones Grotto: Wielding the Whisk

Compiled by Qiu Weigai (Qiufan) of the Fujian Coast

Qiu Weigai (1874–1941), also known as Qiu Shuyuan, was a prominent Chinese poet and philanthropist in Singapore. "Minhai" refers to the coastal region of Fujian, his ancestral home.

Volume One: Flowers
Volume Two: Fall
Volume Three: Home
Volume Four: Servant
Volume Five: Bundle
Volume Six: Sweep
Volume Seven: Birds
Volume Eight: Chirp
Volume Nine: Mountain
Volume Ten: Guest
Volume Eleven: Still

The single-character volume titles form a poetic sentence: "花落家僮束掃，鳥啼山客猶..." (Flowers fall, the house-boy bundles the broom to sweep; birds chirp, the mountain guest is still...). This is a variation of a famous couplet describing the leisurely life of a recluse or scholar, often attributed to the Tang or Song dynasty aesthetic of "dwelling in the mountains." It suggests the contents are arranged according to a contemplative, scholarly rhythm.

The term "Wielding the Whisk" (揮塵/Huichen) in the title refers to the "pure conversation" (qingtan) tradition, where scholars held a whisk while engaging in refined philosophical debate.