The book describes the general pattern of the past official dynastic historiography on structure, method, order of arrangement, sequence, caption and commentary back to the pre-Qin era.
Three of the inner chapters had been lost since the times of Ouyang Xiu, while the rest managed to survive.
The inner chapters, the principal part of the book, provided information on the types, forms, rules, layout, the collecting of historical materials, outline, and the principle of historiography.
The outer chapters describe the official system of the historiographer, origin and development of histories, and the success and failure of past historians.
In comparison with other contemporary Chinese works, the Shitong has several notable innovations in ideas and content, including:[1]