Deqing has a long history. Ge Yinglong, a scholar of the Song Dynasty, recorded in The Zuo Gu Pavilion that “the county owes its clearness to the brook and the brook owes its beauty to the inhabitants, hence the name Deqing which means gratitude and clearness.”

In ancient times, Deqing belonged to the Fangfeng Kingdom and in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period it belonged to the Kingdom of Yue. After the downfall of Yue, it belonged to the Kingdom of Chu. In the Qin and Han Dynasties it belonged to Kuaiji Prefecture and in the Eastern Han Dynasty it belonged to Wu Prefecture. In 222, the first year of Huang Wu of the Kingdom of Wu in the Three Kingdoms Period, Yong’an County was established. In 282, the third year of Taikang in Jin Dynasty, it was renamed “Wukang.” In 691, the second year of Tianshou of Tang Dynasty, 17 townships in the east of Wukang were set up as Wuyuan County. In 742, the first year of Tianbao, Wuyuan was renamed “Deqing.” In June 1958, Wukang County and Deqing County were merged into Deqing.