The conservation of cultural relics in a “sci-tech” way in China started in the early 1950s and has followed the development of China’s social economy, science and technology. Guided by many challenges faced by the conservation of cultural relics and their preservation in the environment of open display, this new trend focuses on basic research, and the development of technology and equipment for conservation, as well as research on conservation systems and standards. A number of scientific and technological breakthroughs have been made in the construction of conservation technology platforms, resulting in a series of achievements. This paper focuses on the achievements of scientific and technological innovation in the field of cultural relic conservation and also discusses the developmental trends of cultural relic science and technology in China. The results show that the scientific research on the conservation of cultural relics in China has changed 1) from working behind closed doors and fighting separately for resources, to cooperating mutually, refining commonalities and overcoming difficulties; 2) from randomness to standardization, thereby establishing a common discourse system; 3) into becoming problem-oriented, with the supporting roles becoming more and more obvious; 4) in that attention is paid to both rescue and preventive conservation, rather than the former only. The goals of making systematic breakthroughs in theory, technology, equipment and standard construction, etc. have been basically realized.