Cen's hometown, Shunde, is the hometown of a famous historian in northwest China in Qing Dynasty, and his scholarship was deeply influenced by the Northwest School of History and Geography in Qing Dynasty. Cen took the authors of Waterway Records of the Western Regions, Supplementary Notes on the Biography of the Western Regions in Han Dynasty, Deng Kekao and other books as pioneers, and he has two works, namely, A Geographical Examination of the Western Regions in Han Dynasty and Deng Kekao. Cen Zhongmian was also influenced by Lao Ge, a Tang Shi scholar who died young in the Qing Dynasty. His works, A New Description of the Title of Langguan Stone Pillar, A New Textual Research on the Title of Langguan Stone Pillar, Notes on Continuing Brother's Reading the Whole Tang Dynasty, and Notes on the Four Schools of Yuanhe Surnames, all carry forward brother's unfinished business, but they have surpassed it in breadth.

Cen's most important academic achievement is to study history with epitaphs, as well as the epitaphs and postscript of epitaphs of Qing dynasty, and to describe many special meanings such as primary school, epitaph and calligraphy. Cen made use of inscriptions to research historical facts, corrected the mistakes of epigraphers in Qing Dynasty who believed in stone carvings and favored historical facts, and objectively demonstrated the value of inscriptions. In addition to the study of Langguan stone pillars, from 1936 to 1942, he wrote the History of Stone Inscriptions, the History of Zhen Shi Inscriptions and the History of Zhen Shi Inscriptions, which were later included in the Collection of Stone Inscriptions, which was published by Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House on 198 1.

In the research on the collation and interpretation of the History of Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Epitaph of Mr. Bai Juyi Zuiyin has been widely praised by scholars at home and abroad, and together with Bai Changqing's collection of false articles, Bai Changqing's collection of origin and development, and Dongfang Baiji's comments, it has made important contributions to the collation of Bai Juyi's collections. Tracing back to the source, it is pointed out that Yuan He Shi Bian is a New Tang Book. The historical origin of the prime minister's lineage table is an important discovery. In the textual research of the on-the-job official system, Notes and Supplements on the Wall Records of Hanlin Bachelor and Two Supplementary Records of Hanlin in Tang Dynasty are the works of Mai Chao Qing Dynasty. In the aspect of geographical textual research, The Preface to New Quan Zhi discusses the right and wrong of collation. The monographs in this field include Seeking Truth from Sui Shu in 1950s and 1960s, Tang Shi Review, Questioning Looking in the Mirror when Ji Bi was in Sui and Tang Dynasties, and Travels in the Tang Dynasty. Hanshu Hanshu Hanshu Hanshu Hanshu Hanshu Hanshu Hanshu Hanshu is the first book that is very beneficial to the literary history and biography of the Tang Dynasty.

Cen's History of Sui and Tang Dynasties (1950-1953) embodies the author's unique insights in A General Introduction to Sui and Tang Dynasties. For example, the study of Li Deyu, Chen Ziang and Sizhen is full of new ideas. In addition, in his later years, he also wrote History of the Yellow River Changes, Research on the System of Officers and Soldiers, Social System Problems in the Western Zhou Dynasty, Essays on the History of Two Weeks, Notes on Mozi's Guarding the City, etc. These monographs reflect the author's extensive interest in the history since the Western Zhou Dynasty and even the history of the Yellow River.

In the study of Chinese and foreign history, especially northwest history, there are publications such as Filling and Textual Research of Western Turkic Historical Materials, Collection of Turkic History and Textual Research of Chinese and Foreign History. In the search and compilation of Turkic historical materials, it has been praised by scholars at home and abroad. For more than 30 years from the age of 40 to 75, Cen wrote about100000 words of historical works. Since 19 12, more than 80 papers have been published, including 8 monographs and 2 monographs.