Harmony between nature and human beings is the core idea of traditional Chinese culture, which contains an extremely rich ecological basis. The design, management, and protection of the river system in Lijiang Old Town are a continuation of this traditionally ecological wisdom in modern civilized society. Meanwhile, this wisdom provides an extremely valuable and profound enlightenment that modern society can use to resolve increasingly serious ecological crises. The location of Lijiang Old Town fully considers the characteristics of topography, orientation and water distribution, and the pattern of "mountains hold water", and is profoundly based on this old ecological wisdom. The buildings and streets are near water, so there are many dwellings near the river. The people of Lijiang Old Town created a unique culture of washing the street according to the characteristics of terrain and river system, and this continues today. A large number of bridges were built because of the developed river system, creating the unique culture of the "bridge market." The folklore of water usage and conservation, as represented by "three-hole wells," also contains many good practices regarding water management. The water environment pressures due to the rapid development of tourism, has led the management of Lijiang Old Town to issue a series of regulations and protections that draw on traditional ecological knowledge and imitate the water usage and conservation methods used by the town's ancestors. This means that water quality and water resource quantity have greatly improved. For example, the rate of city sewage disposal has increased from 45.20% in 2008 to 86.82% in 2012, and the water quality downstream has risen from worse than grade V in 2010 to grade III in 2014. Traditional Chinese ecological wisdom embodies the relationship between harmonious coexistence and common development between human beings and nature. Therefore, even today, it has an important practical meaning.