The predecessor of today's Sandouping, the village of Huangniupu (黄牛铺, "Yellow Cow Post Station") was established during the reign of the Hongzhi Emperor in 1496.
Six out of nineteen Sandouping's villages are populated by families that have been resettled from the areas flooded by the waters of the Three Gorges Reservoir, or, earlier, the Gezhouba Reservoir [REF].