Chéngqiú jí 誠求集
Collection of Sincere Seeking anonymous Qīng paediatric compilation
About the work
A single-juǎn anonymous Qīng paediatric handbook, the title Chéngqiú 誠求 drawn from the Lǐjì 禮記 Dàxué injunction rú bǎo chìzǐ, xīn chéng qiú zhī, suī bùzhōng bùyuǎn yǐ 如保赤子，心誠求之，雖不中不遠矣 (“caring for the infant with one’s whole heart, even if one does not exactly hit the mark one will not be far off”) — a Confucian phrase widely invoked in paediatric prefaces (compare 薛己 Xuē Jǐ’s working motto and 王肯堂 Wáng Kěntáng’s preface to Yīngtóng bǎiwèn KR3ej006). The catalog meta records no author and dynasty unspecified; internal evidence places the work in the mid-to-late Qīng paediatric handbook tradition.
Prefaces
The received text opens directly with the substantive content, beginning with Yī, jíjīngfēng 一、急驚風 (1. Acute jīngfēng) — a clinical biànzhèng discussion of the classical acute paediatric convulsion presentation. No separate preface or table of contents is preserved in the front-matter as transmitted.
Abstract
The body of the Chéngqiú jí opens with a careful clinical-prodrome-and-presentation discussion of jíjīngfēng 急驚風 (acute jīngfēng): the infant’s yè wò bùwěn 夜臥不穩 (restless night sleep), wò kùnzhōng xiào kū 臥困中笑哭 (laughing-and-crying in fitful sleep), nièchǐ yǎorǔ 齧齒咬乳 (tooth-grinding and nipple-biting), and bíé yǒu hàn 鼻額有汗 (sweating on the nose-and-forehead) are identified as prodromes; the acute presentation is tányōng zhuàngrè, miànchì chúnhóng 痰壅壯熱，面赤唇紅 (phlegm-obstruction with high fever, red face and red lips), with shǒuzú qiānyǐn, cuànshì fǎnzhāng 手足牽引，竄視反張 (limbs convulsing, eyes deviating, body arching backward). Pathological mechanism: xiǎo’ér yáng wàng zé nèirè, rè jí zé fēng shēng 小兒陽旺則內熱，熱極則風生 (when the infant’s yang is exuberant, internal heat develops; when heat is extreme, wind generates) — explicitly framed as fēi wài lái zhī fēng, zé nèi chū zhī fēng 非外來之風，則內出之風 (not externally invading wind, but internally generated wind), the standard post-劉完素 Liú Wánsù huǒrè school doctrine. Treatment proceeds: xiān tōngguān, qǔ tù qǔ tì 先通關，取吐取嚏 (first open the orifices, induce vomiting and sneezing), then jiéfēng dìngchù wán 截風定搐丸 (Wind-Cutting Convulsion-Settling Pill) to clear fire and quiet the jīng, then yǎngxuè ānshén 養血安神 (nourishing blood, settling spirit) for convalescence. The work covers the differential diagnoses (shāngfēngrè, shāngshǔrè, shāngfēng késòu, yìxiàng èwù chùjīng) with specific prescriptions for each.
Translations and research
- No substantial scholarship on the Chéngqiú jí located. The author is unidentified.
Other points of interest
The work’s title Chéngqiú jí (Collection of Sincere Seeking) is one of several Qīng-period paediatric works deriving their titles from the Lǐjì Dàxué paediatric Confucian-moral maxim; compare also Bǎochì chéngqiú 保赤誠求 and other titles in the same tradition.