The history of Jiangnan folk houses can be traced back to Hemudu culture about 7000 years ago. The ancestors lived and multiplied in this land and inherited all the life and lifestyle. In the Shang Dynasty, residential settlements with a certain scale had been formed here. Since the Han Dynasty, officials have lived here. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the war situation in the north made a large number of people migrate to the south. This trend makes the economy and culture in the south develop rapidly and the economic center of gravity moves south.

By the Tang Dynasty, a considerable number of official residences had been formed here. In the Song Dynasty's famous paintings "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" and "A Map of Pingjiang River", the architectural layout of the houses in the south of the Yangtze River has been vividly depicted. With Hangzhou as its capital in the Southern Song Dynasty, Jiangnan has made unprecedented development in politics, economy and culture. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jiangnan had become the most economically and culturally developed area in China, where dignitaries, landlords, wealthy businessmen and literati chose to build houses, villas and pavilions with their own characteristics.

Because the buildings in the south of the Yangtze River have a large population, precious land, extremely saving space and working hard at height, their architectural art is more refined and less elegant. But through the hands of skilled craftsmen, houses placed in running water are still attractive.

The six famous ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River in China are Zhouzhuang, Tongli and Jiaotoe in Jiangsu, Xitang, Nanxun and Wuzhen in Zhejiang. These six ancient towns are also water towns with profound cultural heritage. Xitang is in Jiashan County, Wuzhen is in Tongxiang City, and Nanxun is in Huzhou City (Huzhou is also the birthplace of Hubi). These six ancient towns are concentrated in the southeast of Taihu Lake. Zhouzhuang and Jiaotoe are more than 40 kilometers apart, and the waterway between Tongli and Zhouzhuang is only 10 kilometers.