He began work on a six-volume series entitled History of Chinese Folklore, which was completed and published by one of his students after his death.

[1] Zhong was a major contributor to Folksong Weekly (歌謠週刊; Gēyáo Zhōukān), an early folklore studies journal published at Peking University from 1922 to 1925.

He published his first book, a local folklore compilation entitled Folk Tales (民间趣事; Mínjiān qùshì), later the same year.

[1] In November 1927, Zhong co-founded a weekly folklore journal titled Folk Literature and Arts (民間文藝; Mínjiān wényì) alongside Dong Zuobin, Yang Chengzhi, and He Sijing.

Dong returned to Nanyang in December to care for his sick mother, leaving Zhong as the sole editor.

After twelve issues, the journal's sponsors discontinued it in 1928, seeing it as overly focused on literature and art at the expense of broader folklore studies.

[9] In 1934, Zhong left his position at Zhejiang to serve as a visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.

[1] The incipient Communist government established the Research Society of Chinese Literature and Arts in February 1950 to organize folklore studies under Marxist principles.

[12] Zhong's approach was opposed by hardliners of communist folkloristics such as Jia Zhi, who accused him of being a "salesman of capitalist folklore".

[18] He continued instruction of doctoral students at Peking until his death, alongside work on his History of Chinese Folklore, which he began in 2000.