This book focuses on two significant architectural elements in traditional Chinese buildings, that is, dougong and zaojing.

Dougong is a bracket set often sitting above columns and beams as a key component in the great buildings and tombs of imperial China. Variously translated as 'caisson,' 'cupola,' and 'lantern ceiling,' zaojing is a specially constructed coffered ceiling, often profusely decorated with carvings and colourful paintings in various motifs. The book inquiries about the origin of dougong and zaojing in Chinese Bronze Age, and their heavenly interpretations in the Han dynasty (206 BCE220).

Compared to their later technically oriented development during the Tang to the Qing dynasties (c. 6181912), and their preservation and innovative reinterpretation in modern times, the rich cultural meanings originally embodied in dougong and zaojing have almost disappeared.