Sun Xingyan enjoyed a high reputation for poetry since he was a child. He studied under Qian Daxin, specializing in Confucian classics, philosophers, literature and epigraphy, and left many works, such as Annotations on Ancient Books of Shang History, Collection of Zhouyi, Compilation of Tianjin Pavilion's Stone Tablet, Textual Research on Tang Ming, Textual Research on Chunqiu Biedian and Textual Research on Wei Shijing. On the aspect of epigraphy, Sun Xingyan wrote Textual Research on the Stone Carvings in Gyeonggi, especially The Record of Visiting Historic Sites, which was a national catalogue of stone carvings and was an epoch-making creation at that time. Sun Xingyan is good at collating and calligraphy, good at seal script, and studied under Qin and Han Dynasties. Since Sun Xingyan devoted himself to epigraphy after middle age, his calligraphy can only be used as an accessory to his academic research. Sun Xingyan's seal script style is still dominated by the old school of Wang Shuyi, and the change of brushwork is even more exaggerated.