 Yingzao Fashi included building codes and regulations , accounting information , descriptions of construction materials , and classification of crafts . In its 34 chapters , the book outlined units of measurement , and the construction of <unk> , fortifications , stonework , and woodwork . For the latter , it included specifications for making <unk> units with inclined arms and joints for columns and beams . It also provided specifications for wood carving , drilling , <unk> , bamboo work , <unk> , wall building , and decoration . The book contained recipes for decorative paints , <unk> , and coatings , also listing proportions for mixing mortars used in masonry , . brickwork , and manufacture of glazed tiles , illustrating practices and standards with drawings . His book outlined structural carpentry in great detail , providing standard dimensional measurements for all components used ; . here he developed a standard eight @-@ grade system for <unk> timber elements , known as the <unk> @-@ <unk> system of units , which could be universally applied in buildings . About 8 % of Li Jie 's book was derived from pre @-@ existing written material on architecture , while the majority of the book documented the inherited traditions of craftsmen and architects . The Yingzao Fashi provided a full <unk> of technical terms that included mathematical formulae , building proportions , and construction techniques , and discussed the implications of the local topography for construction at a particular site . He also estimated the monetary costs of hiring laborers of different skill levels from various crafts on the basis of a day 's work , in addition to the price of the materials they would need and according to the season in which they were to be employed . 
