Compared with historical records, Hanshu has added four new records: criminal records, five elements records, geographical records and artistic records. Among them, The History of Han Art and Literature records the academic development from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty in the form of seven views and six points, and classifies the ancient books preserved at that time, totaling 596 volumes 13269 volumes, which is the earliest existing book classification catalogue in China. For example, the appellation of "Nine Schools and Ten Schools" and its schools comes from "History of Han, Art and Literature". In the Twenty-six Histories, most of the official histories since then have records of literature and history. For example, the old books in the Tang Dynasty have classics, and the new books in the Tang Dynasty have been changed to "Records of Arts and Literature", but not every history book has them, such as "New Yuan History".
There are Annals of Classics and Annals of Classics in Sui Shu in the Sui Dynasty. The general preface reads: "The Wei family took the place of the Han Dynasty, and died after mining. It was hidden in three pavilions at home and abroad, and the minister of Wei, Lang Zheng Mo, started the classics." Sui Shu's Annals of Classics is the first person to divide the classics into four parts and forty categories, and there are two kinds of classics, Buddhism and Taoism, which are similar to the Annals of Hanshu Yiwenzhi. Until the Qing Dynasty, the Four Ku Quanshu still used four volumes. The achievement of Sui Shu Jing Ji Zhi is the first comprehensive summary of the development of historiography in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The old Tang Dynasty book Jing Ji Zhi recorded exegesis books, written books, phonological books, calligraphy books and other books, and removed Qian Pu and Zhu Pu from the genealogy of the history department and placed them in the sub-department.
In Song Dynasty, Wang Yinglin wrote ten volumes of Textual Research on Literature and Art in Han Dynasty, and made detailed textual research on more than 380 books. "For those who have been researched, the writing of the Han Dynasty is the starting point, and the ethnic language is not the current ethnic language. Deng's son was not killed by his son, and Zhuang suddenly helped Pang Meng and others, stopping at three or five articles. " Collected 27 kinds of unrecorded books, adding the category of Yi. The category of "poetry" added "Wang Yuan's poems"; The category of "Li" has added "Da Li", "Xiao Li", "Wang Zhi" and "Hanyi". Put harmony in the category of "music"; "Spring and Autumn Classics" added "Ming's Spring and Autumn Annals"; Taoism added the theory of Laozi, Gui Zhi and Wang Sumiao; Legalists add Han laws and orders; Strategists add guiguzi; Xia's Biography of the Sun and Moon and Astronomical Supplement, Gan's Chronicle of the Stars, Shi's astrology, Wuxian's Wuxing Zhan, Zhou Xie and Xing Zhuan are the first academic works to systematically study local chronicles. Wang Yinglin thinks that it is inappropriate to classify Yu Chang's loyal ministers as "Yin and Yang Family" in History of Literature and Art, and he also researches Huangfu Mi's Yi Tang Yin Ye, that is, Tang Yejing's method in History of Literature and Art.. Another example is: "Laozi means not to record Sui annals: eleven volumes, written neatly." Liezi explained moire: Zun, the word Junping, refers to fourteen articles, and five thousand articles are interpreted. Yao Zhenzong, a Qing Dynasty man, also added six volumes and added 34 books to Han Shu Literature and Art Records. Wang Mingsheng quoted a golden list when commenting on Hanshu Yiwenzhi: "If you don't know Hanshu Yiwenzhi, you can't finish reading all the books in the world. The author of Literature and Art Annals is the eyes of learning and the portal of writing. "
Hu Shi was too subjective and not objective when commenting on Preface to the Records of Arts and Literature.