Shaoguan is the birthplace of Shixia Culture and the well-known Maba Man, the earliest aboriginal people lived in Guangdong,129 thousand years ago. In the sixth year of the West Han Dynasty (111 B.C.), Qujiang County was set up, which belonged to Guiyang Prefecture. The office location was in now Southeast Lotus Ridge. With a history of more than 2100 years, Qujiang County was the office location of Shixing Prefecture, which was set up in the first year of Ganlu of Wu Kingdom (A.C. 265) in Three Kingdoms Period. Amid the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), the office location was moved to now southeast of Shaoguan. In the ninth year of Kaihuang in Sui Dynasty (A.C. 589), Shaozhou Fu was set up, which was so named for Shaoshi Mountain, a place of interest in the north. During the Tang Dynasty, it was called Shaozhou. The office location was then moved to now Shaoguan City in the South Han Dynasty. Then it became Shaozhou Lu in Yuan Dynasty and became Shaozhou Fu amid Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. In the Republic of China period (1912-1949), the government established Guangdong Shaoguan-Zone Appeasement Area, Southern Southern Shaoguan Dao, Ling Nan Dao, Southern Shaoguan Administration Region, Soutern Region, Northwest Appeasement Region and Second Administrative Superintendence Area successively. From 1943 to 1945, Shaoguan became a provincial city and the temporary capital city of Gungdong Province. In November 1949, Guangdong Provincial Government set up Beijiang Provisional Executive Committee. Meanwhile, Shaoguan City was established in Qujiang urban area, which had jurisdiction over 17 counties. The next year, Beijiang Provisional Executive Committee was renamed as Beijiang Subprovincial Administrative Region. In 1952, it was reorganized into Northern Guangdong Administrative Region, Shaoguan Subprovincial Administrative Region and Shaoguan Region. In 1966, Qujiang County removed the administration to what is now Maba Town. In 1975, Shaoguan City was upgraded into Prefecture-level City, which governs Qujiang County. In 1983, Shaoguan Region was rescinded, counties of the Region were merged into Shaoguan City. From 1984 to 1988, Shaoguan City Government had jurisdiction over 3 regions, 9 counties and 3 autonomous counties. Then, it governed 3 regions and 8 counties from 1988 to 2004. Since 2004, Shaoguan began to administrate 3 regions, 5 counties and 2 county-level city.
