In 593 (Sui Dynasty), Pengshui District was established. "Pengshui" means "Peng River", and was the old name for the Yu River. By 1645 during the Qing Dynasty, it was part of Chongqing Prefecture. In 1913 (Republic of China), it was part of Dongchuan Circuit. In 1927, it was reassigned to Changgong Bureau of Sichuan Province. And in 1935 , of the Eighth Administrative Inspection Area of Sichuan.
On November 16, 1949, Pengshui was captured by the communists. In January 1950, it was part of Fuling Special District of Chuandong Administrative Territory. In September 1952, Fuling Special District was transferred to Sichuan, and was changed to a prefecture in June 1968.
The autonomous county status was approved by the State Council on November 14, 1983. The official status began November 10 of the following year. In 1987, it was assigned to Qianjiang Prefecture. In June 1997, it was directly governed by Chongqing Municipality.
