Compared to Western architecture, which is mainly built on stone, traditional Chinese architecture is built on wooden structures, providing the potential for delicate architectural techniques, such as the mortise and tenon structures,  dating back more than 6,000 years. 

The Chinese wooden furniture or architecture in tenon and mortise structures can fit tightly between two or more wooden pieces, and are joined by occlusion. 

Researchers used to believe that this occlusion was very tight, but in fact, there's enough space in between to form a slot in the architecture, making the building resistant to collapse in earthquakes. ‍

A wood miniature of the signature building of Beijing, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest in the Temple of Heaven was completed in Shanghai recently, using such a technique, instead of glue or nails. The 0.5 meter tall wood miniature is made up of 7,108 parts, five years of diligent research, and repeated failures. Parts of the same shape are interchangeable, which requires the accuracy  down to 0.02 mm, not allowing the slightest mistake in the cutting. 

Without historical archival blueprints of the original architecture, which was first built some 600 years ago, Wang Zhenhua, the first-time wood miniature maker, has to explore the tenon structure of the building by himself. 

His experiment failed because none of the "Luban locks" – the key component of the burr puzzle – could hold together. Later, he developed a whole set of equipment and skills to craft interchangeable parts. Last year, after receiving the golden prize at the World Handcraft Exhibition, Wang is now aiming at China's most famous bridge, the Zhaozhou bridge, as his next wood miniature project.