Chonghui 蟲薈

Chonghui 蟲薈 is a book on "lower creatures" written during the late Qing period 清 (1611-1912) by Fang Xu 方旭 (fl. 1857), original name Chengding 承鼎, courtesy name Tingzhongxuan 聽鐘軒, from Muzhou 睦州, Zhejiang.

The book can be called a zoological encyclopaedia, which quotes, in the traditional Chinese style, from ancient literature without supplementing additional information, not to speak of scientific commentaries. The text is divided into five juan, each of which corresponds of a chapter gathering different types of inferior animals, namely winged creatures (Yuchong 羽蟲), hairy creatures (Maochong 毛蟲), articulate creatures (Kunchong 昆蟲), scaly creatures (Linchong 鱗蟲), and creatures with "shells" (Jiechong 介蟲). The concept of the "five types of lower creatures" (wuchong 五蟲) dates from antiquity and is first mentioned in the Han-period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) book Da Dai Liji 大戴禮記 (81 Yi benming 易本命), where each type was associated with one of the cardinal points, namely scaly creatures (dragons, fishes) with the north, winged creatures (phoenix, birds) with the south, "naked creatures" (luochong 裸蟲; humans) with the centre, hairy creatures (tigers, bears; unicorns) with the east, and creatures with "shells" (jiachong 甲蟲; tortoises, turtles, clams) with the west. The term chong 蟲 is therefore hard to translate, as it does not only refer to insects and worms but also to vertebrates. The "monthly ordinances" Yueling 月令 relate these creatures to seasons, namely scaly ones with Spring, winged ones with Summer, "naked ones" (luochong 倮蟲) with the centre (zhongyang 中央), hairy ones with Autumn, and creatures with "shells" with Winter. The term kunchong, which is applied in the Chonghui instead of "naked creatures", is first used in the Xia xiaozheng, where it denotes the "many creatures" (kun zhe, zhong ye 昆者，眾也) that are "crawling around" (yunyun 䰟䰟). According to the preface of Sun Yimou 孫詒謀, silkworms (can 蠶) should be named as the prototype of "crawling" creatures.

There are three different editions of the book, namely the first print from 1890, the reprint of the paper shop of Dong Yuanfeng 董元豐 at Taiping Bridge 太平橋 of Yanling 嚴陵, and the version of the series Kehuzhai shu 刻鵠齋書 published between 1897 and 1900.

The text is found in the series Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書.