In France, printmaking appeared in the 14th century, focusing mainly on religion and decoration. Popular printmaking in the 15th century was intended to educate the illiterate rural population. The print works in Epinal recorded the folk customs, religion, history and even the popular novels at that time. Then blank pictures were changed into more complicated ones combined with words, decorations and lyrics.

Wang Shucun, born in Tianjin in 1923 and Henri George, born in France in 1924, started to collect and study printmaking almost at the same time in two different countries. For these two collectors, the childhood years they spent in Yangliuqing and Epinal respectively are closely related to their interests in popular printmaking.

Printmaking in Epinal originated in the 17th century. In 1938, the first Popular Printmaking Festival was held there and what impressed Henri George most was the paper-made soldiers, bombardiers, infantrymen and hussars, equal to the size of the real people. However, a real war, WWII broke out in 1939, and George was forced to go to Paris. After that, he began to study and collect popular French print works, even when printmaking gradually lost its popularity to newspapers, picture albums and cartoons. The collectable print works were only seen in special stores and at public auctions.
Yangliuqing, formerly known as Liukou, means the port for willow trees. It is celebrated for a group of artists seeking refuge there in Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Like Epinal, the printmaking industry in Yangliuqing originated in the 17th century. Wang Shucun, who lived in Tianjin in his childhood, spent many happy hours in Yangliuqing. People went there to watch the traditional operas and buy nianhua.

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