Shuhe, (or "Shaowu" in Naxi language), means “the village at the foot of the high mountain”. In the past, behind the village there was a high mountain named Jubao, so people named the village.

 

Shuhe Ancient Town is located 4 km to the northwest of the Lijiang Ancient Town. Its central part covers an area of about 5 sq km with a population around 3,000. In 1997, Shuhe was ranked as an important part of Lijiang Ancient Town, which was already a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

 

Shuhe has a long history. It had become the distributing center of Naxi people in as early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, and it was also an important market town on the Ancient Tea-horse Road. Prosperous tea and horse trade and the colorful multi-cultures made the Naxi people develop harmoniously. It went from Yunnan in the south to Lhasa in Tibet via Lijiang. In the history of transportation development during the thousands of years of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shuhe had been an important wayside stop along the ancient trading roads. It was the site of one of the four big bazaars in Lijiang, and was also called the hometown to the cobblers. Shuhe has witnessed the history of development of Naxi people from the farming civilization to the commercial civilization.