After its founding six decades ago, the city of Sanmenxia in western Henan province, has experienced great social changes.

The State Council decided to set up Sanmenxia city during its 43rd annual conference in March 1957. Sanmenxia then set up its city council, directly under the jurisdiction of Henan Provincial People's Council, with Li Hao as mayor, and Sun Shilu and Duan Binlin as deputy mayors.

From April 21 to 29, 1958, Sanmenxia held its first Party congress with 602 representatives and 3,643 Party members in attendance. The congress chose the members of the Party committee.

From March 9 to 12, 1959, the first congress of Communist Youth League representatives was held in Sanmenxia, to elect members of the league committee.

On Nov 7, 1959, Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to put Shanxian county under the jurisdiction of Sanmenxia.

In September 1977, Sanmenxia resumed the gaokao, the Chinese college entrance exam, with 537 students enrolled by technical secondary schools and senior colleges.

On Apr 4, 1981, the State Council announced the foundation of Yima city under the jurisdiction of Sanmenxia.

On Jan 18, 1986, the State Council upgraded Sanmenxia to a prefecture-level city, and put Mianchi, Shanxian, Lingbao and Lushi county under Sanmenxia's administration.

On Feb 20, 1986, the Henan Provincial Committee of the CPC reshuffled the members of Sanmenxia government and the city council.

On Apr 29, 1986, the first economic planning conference was held in Sanmenxia, sketching the city's economic development plan under the guidance of the provincial plan.

On May 30, 1986, the military subdistrict of Sanmenxia was founded, the members and leaders taking office during the meeting. From Dec 20 to 25, 1986, the first session of the first Sanmenxia committee of Chinese Peoples' Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was held.

From Dec 21 to 25, 1986, the first session of the first Sanmenxia committee of National People's Congress (NPC) was held.

From May 17 to 20, 1987, the first Sanmenxia Party Congress was held, with 309 representatives in attendance.

From Sept 25 to 27, 1986, the first conference of women representatives was held. Leaders from the Henan Provincial Women Association, the Sanmenxia committee and the government attended the meeting.

On Oct 8, 1988, Sanmenxia University was founded.

On Sept 28, 1989, the first commendation meeting of model workers and organizations was held in Sanmenxia, 21 were recognized as super model workers, 295 as model workers and 74 organizations as model groups.

On Jan 4, 1991, Sanmenxia disabled persons' federation was founded.

On Apr 20, 1992, the first Sanmenxia International Yellow River Tourist Festival was opened. The festival lasted for six days and attracted investment of nearly 200 million yuan ($29 million).

On May 12, 1993, the State Council ungraded Lingbao county into a county-level city, still under the administration of Sanmenxia.

On July 8, 1997, Sanmenxia initiated the first exam for employing public servants, with 24 enrolled by State-owned institutions.

On July 1, 2003, Sanmenxia founded an official website which was opened to public opinion to promote good government.

On May 10, 2006, Sanmenxia Yellow River Wind Power Plant was officially approved, as the first such plant in the province.

From Nov 23 to 28, 2012, the first Chinese Specialty Goods Trade Fair was held in Sanmenxia, achieving trade agreements worth 7.33 billion yuan, sales value of 300 million yuan, agreeing on 27 projects with total investment of 24.4 billion yuan, and reaping more than 1.8 billion yuan from hotel services and tourism during the trade fair.

On June 3, 2013, Sanmenxia customs bureau was founded and put into operation.

On Mar 6, 2015, Shanxian was transformed into Shanzhou district.

On Nov 17, 2016, the Sanmenxia government held a news conference to announce the city environmental protection regulations, implementing them on Jan 1, 2017.