Lithography technology has been popularized in Europe as early as the beginning of19th century. The earliest known lithograph in China is a notice posted by foreigners who appeared in Guangzhou in 1834. Unfortunately, lithography technology was replaced by lead printing technology after more than half a century. However, lithograph technology has played an important role in China printing. The emergence of lithograph technology, I think, mainly liberates the labor of block printing. Because the use of lithographs to print books can save tedious and time-consuming engraving printing procedures, reduce costs, and the layout can be arbitrarily reduced and enlarged as needed, with little error, so it was immediately accepted by Chinese people as soon as it appeared. From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, there were more than 100 lithographic bookstores, all over the country, with Shanghai as the center. 1874, Tushanwan Publishing House affiliated to Shanghai Xujiahui Catholic Church began to set up a lithograph printing department and began to print church publicity materials. 1876, an Englishman, e Ernest Major, who founded the customs broker museum, opened a stone printing bureau in Dianshizhai, started printing books and periodicals, and published Kaozheng Dictionary, Kangxi Dictionary, Peiwenyun Museum, Dianshizhai Pictorial and Fei Ying Pavilion Pictorial. Subsequently, Xu He, a native of China, opened a bookstore and a Baishishan bookstore in 188 1 and printed twenty-four histories, a collection of ancient and modern books, Kangxi Dictionary, Pei Wenzhai's calligraphy and painting spectrum and other ancient books. Since then, many lithographic bookstores have appeared, such as Li Shengduo's famous British Pavilion and Ling Biqing's Hong Wen Bookstore.

Hong Wen Tang Multicolored Bookstore is the first bookstore in China to print color pictures with lithograph technology, and its manager is Wu Jinting; Since then, Wei and Wei Tiansheng founded the Chinese and Western Multicolored Bookstore in 1882 to print colorful pictures. Wenfu Museum, Seaweed Literature Bureau and later Color Literature Bureau, Chongwen Book Company, etc. Also engaged in color printing; The Civilization Bookstore founded by Yu Fu and Lian Quan opened a color lithograph department at 1904 to print colorful teaching materials, pictures and maps. China Book Company also published color lithograph maps and teaching wall charts. 1920, the Shanghai Commercial Press began to use direct lithography, and the next year it used color lithography, which can be regarded as photocopying.