Originally called Shu (Book), The Classic of History got the name in the Han Dynasty, meaning a book of previous generations. It is China's earliest compilation of documentary records related to events in ancient history of China. After the Han Dynasty, The Classic of History became one of the most important Confucian classics, thus it's also called Shujing (Classic of Documents).

The Classic of History retains some important historical material of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, especially the Western Zhou Dynasty. The main content of the book is the ancient imperial proclamations and conversations between emperors and ministers, mirroring the astronomy, geography, philosophic thinking, education, criminal law and institutional systems etc of that historical period. The book is a precious material for the understanding of ancient Chinese society.

Written in prose, The Classic of History is arranged in chronological order. It consists of 100 articles in four parts: The Document of Yu (Shun), The Document of Xia (Dynasty), The Document of Shang (Dynasty) and The Document of Zhou (Dynasty). The book is in four writing forms: 1) "codes" - the documentation of law codes and statutes; 2) "written admonitions" - the conversations between emperors and ministers and those between ministers, as well as prayers at sacrificial rituals; 3) "pledges" - the pledges made by emperors and vassals; 4) "mandates" - the imperial mandates emperors made when appointing officials or rewarding vassals.

Since the Han Dynasty, The Classic of History has been regarded as a classic on feudal Chinese politics and philosophy. It served as both a textbook for the emperors and an authoritative and classic code that children from noble families and scholar-bureaucrats must follow. The Classic of History had a great impact in Chinese history.