Why did China's houses used to be wood-paneled in ancient times?

Traditional Chinese architecture is dominated by wooden buildings because:

1) local materials; ancient primitive forests were sufficient to provide the building needs.

② China as early as two thousand years ago in the Warring States, metallurgical technology has been quite developed, able to produce a variety of metal tools, chopping wood to process. As a result, Chinese architecture was characterized by very fine detailing, while 2000 years ago, the West was only capable of roughing up the stone.

3 wood building materials easy to construct, short construction period, cheap. Ming Chengzu cover the Forbidden City (720,000 square meters), only three years to complete. Stone building materials cover slow, expensive. So many European cathedrals are built for hundreds of years, and sometimes have to stop, and then continue to build when there is money.

4 good wood building materials, such as nanmu, fir wood strength is four times that of steel, toughness is six times that of cement, and wood building materials than brick building more temperature-regulating effect, quite practical and scientific.

However, the biggest challenge for wood construction is that it can grow horizontally without limitations, but unlike stone or reinforced concrete buildings - it is difficult to reach heights of more than 20 meters. In modern times, when land is scarce and people are crowded, buildings have to be built upwards, and wood is becoming more and more difficult to come by, making traditional wooden buildings fade away in the modern world.