In 1589, Matteo Ricci relocated his mission house - the first ever Jesuit mission in mainland China - to Shaoguan after a fallout with the authorities in Zhaoqing. He remained in Shaoguan for a few years, eventually benefiting from Shaoguan's location on the important north-south travel route to establish connections with traveling dignitaries that allowed him to move north, to Nanchang, Nanjing, and Beijing.
During World War II the city, then called Kukong, was the capital of Guangdong Province.
In June 2009, Uyghurs and Han workers clashed at a toy factory in Shaoguan, which was followed by the Ürümqi riots in July.
