Because they were made of wood, traditional Chinese structures are seldom more than 1,000 years old. Thus, scholars have to rely on books and other written records to reconstruct the earliest period of Chinese architecture.
李乾朗指出：「由於傳統建築的木結構很難長久保存，因此早期的建築形式究竟如何發展演變，如今已乏實物考據，好在從書籍、古畫、明器中，仍有豐富的跡象可尋。」