Shantou was a coastal alluvial area in ancient times, and the impact of seawater brought rich nutrition to vegetation crops, so a village was formed here in Song Dynasty, belonging to Jieyang County. During the Yuan Dynasty, some big villages appeared, which were called Xia Ling in ancient times. There were thousands of families in Pengzhou in the early Ming Dynasty, and it was Chenghai when it was in Chenghai County during Jiajing period. Because the sand ridges in Shantou area extend to the sea, people often fish with fences, so it is also called sand mountain. Shashantou Fort was established in Kangxi period, and it was referred to as Shantou in Yongzheng period. In the tenth year of Xianfeng (AD 1860), Shantou began to open to the outside world and became an important trading port in China.

192 1 year, Shantou established a municipal government, which was separated from Chenghai. 1930 was approved to set up a city, which belongs to the Guangdong provincial government. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Shantou gradually embarked on the road of opening to the outside world, and Shantou entered a new stage.