“Yingzaosuanli” was an ancient Chinese craftsman’s handbook from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (13th to 18th centuries), serving as a design compass for ancient Chinese architecture. Firstly, through meticulous analysis and interpretation, it was demonstrated that “Yingzaosuanli” geometry can be re-elaborated by modern parametric mathematical models, in this case taking advantage of Grasshopper. As the second step, we established parametric models based on the analysis of ancient algorithms’ textual content. It was identified the key parameters “Doukou” and “Number of layers” and their roles in the design of Dougong. Moreover, by comparing existing Dougong with the parametric models, we could gain a concrete understanding of how ancient Chinese architects applied these models in Dougong design, and interpret craftsmen’s deviations from ideal mathematical models in practical applications. Most importantly, this article enables the verification of the historical fact that ancient Chinese architects indeed utilized what we nowadays call parametric thinking, and the related tools, in their architectural designs.