Due to the limitation of physical environment and data, the reconstruction of lake evolution at thousand/hundred year scales in the monsoon marginal zone of northwestern China has remains insufficient. The lake evolution information in historical documents is abundant, which can help better understand this issue. This paper combs the salt mining method data of Dingbian salt lakes recorded in historical documents, inverts the brine level of Dingbian salt lakes in the historical period, and reconstructs the evolution sequence of the brine level of Dingbian salt lakes in northern Shaanxi Province from 1265 A.D. to 1949 A.D.. We suggest that this sequence is a good indication of the climate change in the area from 1265 A.D. to 1949 A.D.. The reconstruction results show that there were two humid periods and three drought periods in the area over 1265-1949 A.D.. The main reason for the climage changes in this area was the intensity variation of the East Asian summer monsoon. Our research proves that the salt lake evolution information in historical literature is a kind of alternative indicator. It is easily available and has clear physical logic, but the time resolution is slightly ambiguous. Being combine with traditional lake sedimentation data, it will have a much broader study prospect.