To copy the color paintings of Yongle Palace in Shanxi province, a Taoist temple, Wang spent seven summers there. Later he stayed for four summers in Suzhou and nearby cities well-known for their ancient gardens in Jiangsu province.

Wang joined the Palace Museum staff in the 1970s and began to study the designs and patterns on the imperial palaces.

Ancient Chinese artists used color paintings to decorate and protect the timber framework. It also represented the social status of royal families: Only the emperors were allowed to use dragon images and the empresses to use phoenix images. Ordinary people, including merchants and the wealthy, couldn't have such paintings on their buildings.

Though an expert, Wang’s passion for fieldwork and research remains.

When Wanshou Temple in Beijing was under renovation in the 1990s, a craftsman called him for his help one night to determine the accurate pattern on a beam. Wang told him to prepare a torch and a ladder, and he immediately proceeded to the site.

It took him about ten minutes to determine the pattern and guide the craftsman. But by the time he got back home, it was early morning, as the temple was located in a distant suburb.

Last year, Wang went to an academic conference at Wudang Mountain in Hubei province. To observe the artwork on a mountaintop temple, the then 79-year-old Wang climbed to the hillcrest, about 300 meters beyond where the cable cars stopped.

Every year, Wang goes to different cities across the country to help repair decorations on ancient buildings and temples. He loves it and is willing to share his knowledge, but he worries about how he will pass his skills to future generations.