Xianyou county has a long history, and many Neolithic fossils have been excavated, which show that human beings lived and multiplied here as early as three or four thousand years ago. According to the records of Xianyou County Records and Fujian Tongzhi, it is said that more than 2,000 years ago, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, nine He brothers from Linchuan, Jiangxi Province went to Jiuli Lake to make an alchemy, and Dan Cheng ascended to heaven by nine carp. "Xianyou" got its name from this.

In the second year of Tang Wu Zhou Shengli (AD 699), the western half of Putian County was designated as qingyuan county, which was the beginning of the county's establishment and has been 1283. In the first year of Tianbao (AD 742), it was renamed Xianyou, with the same name as Qingyuan County (Quanzhou) under its jurisdiction at that time. It is also named "Licheng" after the domestic scenic spot Jiuli Lake. Song Taiping Xingguo four years (AD 979), Xianyou Xingtaili and Putian, Yongtai, Fuqing border areas, located in Xinghua County. In the 13th year of Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1448), Xinghua County was cut. Its revival, Xunyang, construction and coming to Lisi belonged to Xingtaili, and Xianyou County was under its jurisdiction.