Abstract： In 1930s, Wolf created the first partogram. In 1950s, Friedman proposed the classical model of partogram that has been applied in clinical labor assessment ever since. Over the past ten years, Zhang has made great improvement in this field. Here, we reviewed the three different stages in partogram research (the first proposed stage, Friedman's classical stage and Zhang's stage) in terms of its background, demographic characteristics and clinical application. Moreover, this article also emphasized the necessity of partogram research and discussed the prospects for future research and clinical application based on the recent progress in China.