This essay reports a survey of lantern slide shows in late Qing China. Based on a detailed analysis of slide advertisements, journal reports, and images in the Dianshizhai Pictorial, I argue that the lantern slide show was one of the most popular modern visual tools and entertainments and should be included in the early history of cinema. Lantern slide shows provided a cinematic experience before the invention of cinema. These observations counter the opinion that cinema was a new technique that introduced the audience to a unique visual experience. In fact, both lantern slide shows and cinema projection provide the audience with an aesthetics of virtual images, which constitute a significant part of Chinese visual modernity.