The official history books of the Song Dynasty, such as chronicles, memoirs and biographies of national history, are extremely rich. The calendar during the reign of Song Xiaozong Zhao Shen was 2000 volumes long. By the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, despite the decline of the country, there were still 472 volumes of Zhao Yunli in Song Lizong, the first draft 190, 78 volumes of current affairs in Zhao Qi, Song Duzong, and 45 volumes of diary of Deyou's deeds in Song Gongdi. After the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty sent more than 5,000 copies of various historical documents of the Song Dynasty to the Metropolitan National History Museum, which became the data basis for Yuan people to compile the history of the Song Dynasty.

The History of Song Dynasty is one of the basic historical books for studying the history of Liao, Song and Jin Dynasties. Among the existing important historical materials of the Song Dynasty, only the History of the Song Dynasty runs through the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, and a large number of historical records have been preserved for 320 years. Many historical facts are not found in other books. In particular, The History of Song Dynasty contains 15 kinds of records, including astronomy, five elements, calendars, geography, canals, etiquette, music, ceremonies, costumes, elections, official positions, food, soldiers, punishments, arts and literature, and records a generation of astronomical calendars, laws and regulations, social economy, administrative evolution, book catalogues, etc. Although sometimes lost, it was lost by later historians. There are biographies of loyalty and righteousness in the history of the Song Dynasty, and besides biographies of Confucian scholars, there are also biographies of Taoism, which also reflect some historical characteristics of the Song Dynasty.