On May 12, 1997, with the approval of the State Council, Jinshan County and China Petrochemical Shanghai Jinshan Company adopted an administrative reform, in which Jinshan County was upgraded from a county to a district of Shanghai, thereby opening an new era in Jinshan’s history. Jinshan was the first suburban area that became an administrative district in Shanghai.
　　
Around 6,000 years ago, Jinshan had come into being. It has a very long history, with ancient relics of ‘Liang Zhu Culture’. The ‘Gu Gang Shen’ in Shazhi Village of Caojing Town is the only ancient coastal relics in Shanghai. Also, many other ancient cultural relics unearthed half a century ago, such as Cha Shan, Qie Jia Dun, Ting Lin, and Nan Yang Gang, tell us the stories of Jinshan from the New Stone Age through to the Qin and Han Era. The ‘Ji Du Bridge’ and ‘ Shou Dai Bridge’ built in the Song Dynasty are the oldest bridges in Pu Nan area.

Jinshan became a county in 1726 (the 4th year under the reign of Yong Zheng in the Qing Dynasty), 277 years ago. Jinshan is the earliest place that received administration in Shanghai. According to the historic documents, such ancient towns as Fengjing, Jinshanwei, and Zhujing, has a over 800 year history of being an administrative unit.

Jinshan has very rich resources of temple culture. Five major temples, i.e. Wan Shou Temple, Song Yin Temple, Wu Long Temple, Dong Lin Temple, and Xing Jue Temple, are fairly special and attractive for their architecture and traditions. It is said that Wan Shou Temple is the oldest, built in the Three State Era. Song Yin Temple has 800 year old Hua Yan Pagoda, Scripture Hall, and lying Buddha. Wu Long Temple possesses a special religious culture which integrates Taoism with Buddhism. Dong Lin Temple is regarded among the Buddhists as the sister temple of Lin Yin Temple. In Xing Jue Temple, there is a very large lying Buddha.
　　
Jinshan is famous for many talents especially those in the cultural area. In the history, it had Gu Yewnag, a linguist in Nan Bei Era, famous monk Chuan Zi in the Tang Dynasty, scholar Chen Shunyu in the Song Dynasty, prominent writer and calligrapher Yang Weizhen in the Yuan Dynasty, and calligrapher Shen Du in the Ming Dynasty. In the modern times, it has famous scientist Gu Guanguang, expert in hydrodynamics Cai Zheng. In the more recent time, it has bygone Zhu Xuefan who used to work in the standing commission of the National People’s Congress, the president of Chinese Painting Institute Chen Shifa, and caricaturist Ding Cong.

Jinshan Peasants’ Paintings are called ‘World Art Treasure’. Jinshan has been honored the ‘the hometown of Chinese Modern Folk Paintings’ by the Nation’s Ministry of Culture. It is also the ‘hometown of ancient stories’. Its dark pottery artifacts, famous as the ‘black pearl’, is a part of Shanghai Tourist Festival. The Annual Tourist Festival of Jinshan Peasants’ Painting promotes the tourism, with paintings as a medium for communication and ‘seaside scenery and love for hometown’ as the topic.