China is a vast country composed of many multi-ethnic cultures and historical backgrounds. Archaic architecture in China varies greatly from region to region, which in turn lends each unique characteristics arising from its various ethnicities, history, climate, and geographical features. This sprawling, seven-volume anthology of ancient architecture is organised as a comparison of similarities and differences between China's six designated cultural regions: Northern, Jiangnan, Sichuan, Lingnan, Mintai and Southwestern. Through nearly 20,000 photographs and countless drawings, the series exhaustively catalogues virtually every feature of many ancient Chinese building types.