Layuan Village belongs to Yizhang County, which was built in the Ming Dynasty. The people here are simple and honest, mainly farming and reading. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were several enrollees in the village and a Major General of the National Revolutionary Army in the Republic of China. Most of the existing ancient village buildings were built in Jiaqing Period of Qing Dynasty. There are more than 200 traditional houses in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, including the temples, ancestral halls, houses, wells, pavilions, galleries, private schools and shops, covering an area of about 64,620 square meters, with a building area of about 32600 square meters. They are orderly distributed in the village, with streets and alleys connected, surrounded by flowing water, forming an ancient and peaceful place. The rich culture and the vicissitudes of history are all displayed in the Layuan Ancient Village.

This ancient village provides a powerful material witness for the study of the ancient rural architecture in Yizhang County in the Qing Dynasty with a high historical and artistic value. In 2010, Layuan Village was selected as a famous tourism village with Hunan characteristics; in 2011, Layuan Architectural Complex was listed as the ninth batch of provincial cultural relics protection units in Hunan Province and as a famous tourism village with Hunan characteristics, becoming the first batch of qualified units for acceptance of the "3521 Tourism Creation Project" in Hunan Province; in 2013, Layuan Ancient Village was named as a famous historical and cultural village at the provincial level; in November 2014, it was named as a traditional Chinese village.

The ancient residential group is located in Layuan Village, Bali Town, more than 40 kilometers away from Yizhang County, adjacent to Mangshan Mountain Tourist Area. There are six groups of villagers, with a permanent population of more than 3000 people. In recent years, Yizhang County has vigorously developed its tourism industry and made great efforts to build the Mangshan tourism circle. Layuan Ancient Village, close to Mangshan Mountain, has formed a golden tourism route with Mangshan National Forest Park, Rongjiadong Forest Farm, Yiliu Hot Spring, Shenggongtan Red Base Area and Bali Ancient Castle, and the surrounding infrastructure has been constantly improved. The construction of Dongyang highway and Layuan ancient village tourist area highway reconstruction project will greatly improve the traffic conditions in Layuan Village.