This book is a concise history of Chinese architecture written in English by the late famous Chinese architect Professor Liang Sicheng in his early years. He is a Chinese architectural historian, architect, urban planner and educator who has devoted his life to preserving China's ancient architecture and cultural heritage. He was once an academician of Academia Sinica and a member of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It aims to give a general explanation of the structural system and the evolution of the form and system of ancient Chinese architecture to western readers by means of a large number of photographs and diagrams.

The content includes more than 240 rare photographs and drawings highlight this excellent pictorial record and analysis of Chinese architectural history. Based on years of unprecedented field studies by the author, the illustrations depict many of the temples, pagodas, tombs, bridges, and imperial palaces comprising China's architectural heritage. 152 halftones, 94 diagrams.

The book is divided into four chapters. The first chapter introduces the structural system and characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture. The next three chapters describe the changes in different historical periods, such as wooden architecture, pagoda and masonry architecture.

Mr. Liang said in the preface that this book is not a complete history of Chinese architecture, its content and weight is not as complete and as heavy as The History of Chinese Architecture. However, as the first book on the history of Chinese architecture written by a Chinese facing westerners, it still gives a good introduction to the structural system of Chinese architecture, as well as a large number of architectural investigation examples.