Li Shan’s Wenxuan Annotations is regarded as a masterpiece of “Studies of Wenxuan”, which implies Li Shan’s unique ideas that are different from those of the previous phonosemanticans of Wenxuan. He fully inherited and developed the tradition of phonosemantics from the Han Wei (漢魏) to Sui Tang (隋唐) Dynasty. Under the influence and inspiration of the comprehensive and erudite style of learning at that time and the prologue of Jingdianshiwen (經典釋文), he opened up a precedent of large-scale citation-based annotating by adopting the sounds and meanings of various phonosemanticans, avoiding the shortcomings of the “one sect’s learning”. At the same time, he has chosen the sounds that he recognized, and achieved the right degree of simplicity. His demand for the unity of form, sound and meaning has been very close to the modern idea of “matching sound and meaning”, which can be regarded as an extremely important stroke in the history of the development of Chinese phonosemantics.

Li Shan annotated Shi Ji and wrote “Shi Ji Yue” with his annotation convention, mostly annotating characters and geography, and further citing Shi Ji when needed. According to the investigation of the Hukejia engraving printed by Zhonghua Shuju in 1977, the annotations of Shiji in Wenxuan Lis’ are Xuguang, Zhangyan, Peiyin, Wang Su, Wei Zhao, Xu Shen, Guo Pu, Qiao Zhou, He Xiu, Zan, Zheng Xuan, Ru Chun, Jinzhuo and Ying Shao. Most of these annotations can be found in Shiji Jijie. However, Xu Guang, Zhang Yan, Pei Yin, Wang Su and Wei Shao, their notes differ from those of today’s books. According to the collation of documents, Li Shan must have referred to the Tang Dynasty manuscript Shi Ji, the Nan Dynasty manuscript Shi Ji and Pei Yin’s Shiji Jijie when he quoted Shi Ji. In addition, there is the possibility of referring to Xu Guang’s ShiJi Yinyi. The Tang manuscript is close to the original annotation of Shiji. Therefore, we can find that Li Shan’s annotation preserved the annotation which is difficult to find today.