The southeast of Zhangjiagang City was originally under the jurisdiction of Changshu County, so people in the southeast often speak Yuxi dialect (Changshu Xixiang dialect) and the southwest was originally under the jurisdiction of Jiangyin County, so people in the southwest often speak Chengdong dialect (Jiangyin Dongxiang dialect).

The northern part of Zhangjiagang used to be a pile of sand. Few people live there because this land is not suitable for growing rice. It was not until the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty (1522- 1566) that immigrants from Jingjiang, Zhenjiang, Yangzhong and other places came to the northwest of Zhangjiagang to settle down and plant cotton, and became the old Shaman people now. During the Anti-Japanese War, some residents along the Yangtze River in Haimen and Qidong of Nantong crossed the Yangtze River and settled in the relatively safe south of the Yangtze River. They live in the northeast of Zhangjiagang and become the new Sha people who speak Chongming dialect now.