Historic settlements adapting to local climate and geographical environment contain rich and precious scientific design concepts which should be investigated extensively. The paper is the further study on the sustainable design and planning experiences of Chinese historic settlements. In our previous works, we simulated the wind environment of the Shang-gan-tang village in the central-western region of China which is characterized with hot-humid climate and examined the relationship between settlement selection and layout and the wind environment of the village. In this study, the thermal environment of the village was simulated and the traditional bioclimatic design concepts and techniques were investigated in order to explore a more comprehensive guide for creating sustainable modern human settlement adapting the changing climate. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.