After leaving school, he enrolled at the Central College for Nationalities in Beijing, where he studied the Yi language.

[2] Shi's academic career was curtailed by the Cultural Revolution, and in 1970 he was assigned to train as a stonemason at a cadre school in Henan.

[2] In 1975 Shi rejoined the Institute of Ethnology, and during 1975 and 1976 he and Bai Bin (白濱) carried out extensive fieldwork at Western Xia sites.

He then worked on a translation and study of the Tangut rime dictionary, the Sea of Characters, which was published in 1983.

Shi has not restricted himself to linguistic research, but has also made important contributions to the understanding of Tangut history and culture.