When analyzing Liu Zhiji's literary theory, Cai Guoxiang said: Liu severely criticized the formalistic style of writing at that time; Put forward the principle of "simplicity", attach importance to innovation and identify with tradition; Today, when dialects are advocated, articles are required to reflect regional and national characteristics and have a sense of the times. Liu's literary theory not only influenced the historical theory of the Tang Dynasty and later generations, but also influenced the development of literature (for literary theory, see Shi Tong, Journal of Jinzhou Teachers College, No.2, 1990). The term "historical documents" used in historiography refers to the necessary artistic processing of real historical records in order to compile historical books that respect historical facts and have literary colors. Li and Qiu Yingyuan believe that Liu Zhiji first established China's theory of historical literature and put forward two basic principles: record and conciseness. These two basic principles are not only the basic contents of Shi Tong's historical literature theory, but also two contradictory aspects. Record-learning, authenticity; Short words-good choice, artistic appeal. They are not only the unity of ideology and carrier form, but also the unity of historians' ideology and artistry. These two basic principles are not only a summary of the history books before the Tang Dynasty, but also two basic criteria for judging the success of history books writing. Around this principle, Shi Tong expounded the theory of historical literature from six aspects: the relationship between historical books and reality, the contradiction between form and content, the relationship between historical books and historical materials, the relationship between language and historical books, the inheritance and development of historical books and historical criticism. At the same time, Liu Zhiji's "historical knowledge" is also based on these two principles. Conciseness is the artistic accomplishment of historical knowledge, and record is the political quality of historical knowledge (Shi Tong's Theory of Historical Literature, Journal of Southwest University for Nationalities,No. 1988,No. 1 issue).

Han Panshan pointed out that Liu Zhiji put forward Shi's writing principle, the narrative standard of "being concise", the language of "being close to the past" and the requirement of self-cultivation (Liu Zhiji Shi's writing view, Journal of Hebei University No.4, 1992).