Strategies and conventions for depicting spatial recession in paintings differ (of course) among cultures, locations, time periods, and functions of artworks. Teaching students the conventions of Chinese landscape painting who are unfamiliar with art, let alone arts of many cultures, presents many challenges. I recommend all four of the posts but particularly point to this one for explaining panorama and strategies for depicting space in horizontal scrolls.
Source: Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河圖) (Part 4) : Horizontal Panorama
Lisa K. Langlois 
Dear Professor Langlois, thank you very much for all your kind support. May I recommend your students to my webpage on vertical panorama? This may explain why traditional landscape paintings are in this format. Thank you very much. Kind regards, Patrick
https://patricksiu.wordpress.com/shan-shui-%E5%B1%B1%E6%B0%B4-painting-tutorial-7-vertical-panorama/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I will link to it on their page. Sorry for the delay, I didn’t realize I had to “approve” comments, I will adjust my settings!
LikeLiked by 1 person