Rongbaozhai was located in the well-known Liulichang West Street.  It grew out of Songzhuzhai and was renamed Rongbaozhai in the 10^th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1894).  This was the place where the Chinese calligraphers and painters used to gather together and communicated with one another.

The scope of business operation of this paper store included three sections: One, marketing of specially-made papers for the use of calligraphies and painters as well as fans of various descriptions and mounted long vertical scrolls for jubilant occasions. Two, marketing of ink brushes, ink sticks, stone ink-slab cases (containing Chinese dark ink held by wet cotton), water basin, inkpad and other stationery.  Three, provision of “Bi Dan” (ink brush list).  The so-called “Bi Dan” means defining of the marketing price standard for the works of calligraphers, painters and sculptors upon recommendation by the celebrated masters, in the process of which, Song Zhu Zhai Studio would get some commissions.  At the same time, those artists who asked for “Bi Dan” service would usually buy papers, ink brushes, stone ink-slabs and other articles from the studio.  In this way, Songzhuzhai could earn a considerable and stable income every year.

At that time, the most noted southern paper store at the Liulichang was “Songzhuzhai”.  It was also well-known because this studio was assigned to produce official files and official folders for the government. Although the owners of Songzhuzhai came from a family that had produced public officials for several generations, they were not good at business.  After the Opium War in 1840, in particular, the social and economic situation was getting worse and worst and it was difficult for the store to go on as it was.  Therefore, the owner employed Zhuang Huchen, a wit of Beijing as the manager.  In 1894, its name was changed to Rongbaozhai, which means “making friends through literary works” and “Rong (Glory) being a treasure for a brand name.” And the greatest calligrapher Lu Runxiang (Number One Scholar of the Court Examination in Emperor Tongzhi’s reign in the Qing Dynasty) was invited to write the characters of “Rongbaozhai” on the plaque.

The craftsmanship of Rongbaozhai’s wood-block painting is widely known both in China and abroad.  Its master workers at the workshops are the best in the trade of art.  This Chinese traditional method of wood-block painting is so unique that no other methods of printing are comparable to it. In the past several dozens’ years, on the basis of the traditional technique, Rongbaozhai had constantly made improvement and innovation, achieving new results.  The studio is not only capable of printing small articles such as poetry tips, but also complicated technological works such as silk paintings and huge-size vertical scrolls.  The replications were often taken as genuine works.  Most famous were the “Seventy-two Poetic Notes” and the “Pouch for Twenty-Four Solar Terms” Upon their personal scrutiny, Lu Xun and Zheng Zhenduo regarded Rongbaozhai as the most outstanding one of all the paper stores in Liulichang Street.

Nowadays, Rongbaozhai has collected a lot of genuine works of the ancient as well as the contemporary calligraphers and painters or their wood-block printings of Chinese calligraphy and paintings.  Besides, the studio also provides four treasures of the study, as well as mounting, processing and repairing services for the convenience of the calligraphers and painters, thus making important contributions to promoting the art market of Chinese calligraphy and painting as well as to enhancing international interflow of culture.

At the time, even master painter Qi Baishi could not, in the presence of replications of his own works, differentiate whether they were genuine or not.  Now, the characters of “Rongbaozhai” on the plaque were written by Guo Moruo.