Two archaeological sites have been found at Xikeng in the southern part of Yuanshan Subdistrict: the Shidulong () site dating to the
Western Zhou and
Eastern Zhou periods, and the Leigongkeng () site dating to the Eastern Zhou period. The first documented resident in the area is Chen Kangshi (, 1160–1185), a
salt official who founded the village of He'ao () in the
Chunxi era of the
Southern Song dynasty. He'ao is the oldest village in Yuanshan Subdistrict that still survives today.
Hakka people migrated to the Longgang area during the reign of
Kangxi, after the rescinding of the
Great Clearance edicts, and became the majority ethnic group in the area. The local economy was traditionally agricultural, primarily producing rice, peanuts,
longan and
lychee, along with some tubers and sugarcane. The local villages started building factories for rent in the mid-1980s after Shenzhen became a
special economic zone. Yuanshan Subdistrict was created at the end of 2016, when it was separated from . ==Administration==