Building up a legacy

Zhu also conducted textual research on the history of the family tree, notes and letters brought to him from Lei family's offspring.

The documentary commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Zhu in 2022. "It was Zhu who farsightedly realized the value of Yangshi Lei archives and kept the precious architectural cultural heritage in a chaotic time. He also left us the legendary story of an imperial architects' clan," says Huo.

Western architecture circles, according to Liu, believed for a long time that China's architecture was built only with artisans' experience without careful design. And that misunderstanding was caused by the fact that ancient architectural techniques were passed down by word-of-mouth or hands-on teaching in ancient China, without leaving word or picture legacies.

"The Yangshi Lei family is the only architect clan which has left rich written materials like architectural designing archives, family trees, family members' notes and letters in China," says Liu.

"Our research on their archives proves that China's ancient buildings have complete and systematic design ideas, and reflect the wisdom of ancient Chinese artisans. It also helps to fill in the gap in the research of China's history of ancient architecture," she adds.