The Chinese painting of architectural subjects--buildings, boats, wheeled vehicles, and other mechanical apparatuses--is called jiehua. (1) The term translates literally as "ruler-lined painting," meaning that the painter uses not only the brush but also such tools as ruler and compass, square and straightedge, like a mason or carpenter. By 960, the founding year of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1126), the practice of jiehua already went back more than a millennium. Since the time ...