Part of the painting, Along the River During the Qingming Festival, reveals the 12th-century urban life in Bianliang, an ancient Chinese city. Photo provided to China Daily

This is his second book in the genre. The first is about the disappearance of an ancient version of the Analects of Confucius, set in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220).

The idea for a book about the painting came to Ye when he first saw a copy of it during a visit to Kaifeng 10 years ago. The original painting is in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

"I was amazed by the painting that showed the lively urban life of the Northern Song Dynasty," recalls Ye. "And then I began to ask－why did such a prosperous dynasty collapse so quickly?"

According to historians, that dynasty lost control of northern China to the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) and retreated to the south in 1127, just a few years after the painting was completed.

Ye bought a copy of the scroll and nailed it to his bedroom wall.

"I am awed by the superb artistic skill of the painter, and moreover, as a storyteller, I am interested in the stories behind each figure in the painting," says Ye.

"I started to imagine the background, characters and destiny of those people, and associated them with the historical period. I just can't help but tell the story."