In order to investigate the spatial- temporal evolution pattern and potential driving mechanism of lakes on a long time- scale, based on the Koppen climate classification, we classify Chinese climate as 4 climate zones, 6 climatic types and select 34 lakes which have reliable dating, and its lake records have certain continuity since the Last Glacial Maximum. At the same time, NCEP/NCAR 0.5°*0.5° 1900-2015 grid data are used to verify our traditional monsoon region which is defined based on water vapor transportation field. Meanwhile, this study uses a series of models, i.e., the NCAR CCSM 3, a lake energy-balance and a lake waterbalance model, to examine the lake-level evolution process and potential driving mechanism in monsoonal Asia and arid central Asia since the Last Glacial Maximum. Our results indicate that the evolution of lakes in China is mainly affected by millennial-scale atmospheric circulation, and lake-level changes in all climate zones have no obvious regularity. In the monsoon region, there are two kinds of evolvement rules, a relatively high lake- level in the early and mid- Holocene and a relatively high lake- level in the Last Glacial Maximum and early Holocene. Meanwhile, in the arid region of East Asia controlled by westerlies, there are also two kinds of evolvement rules. One is that the lake- level in mid- and late Holocene is relatively high, and the other is that the lake- level is relatively high in mid- Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum. This study provides a large amount of new evidence, which reflects the past climate change and mechanism of lake evolvement, as well as a new perspective to comprehensively understand lake-level changes since the Last Glacial Maximum.