According to the orchestra's official web site, the orchestra was re-structured based on the former Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra (SBSO). SBSO was merged from two orchestras – Shanghai Film Orchestra, which was established in 1954 and Shanghai Broadcasting Orchestra, which was established in 1950. The merge happened in 1996, and the new orchestra was named Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra with Yongyan Hu as its first music director. The name of the orchestra was officially changed to the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra in April 2004 with famous conductor Zuohuang Chen as its Music Director, adopting the world’s most prevalent system of music seasons.

When Muhai Tang took over the music director position in 2009, he told the journalist that the orchestra was not going to focus on overseas. Tang said they had to consider why the audience would like to listen to the music and how they could play the music well. He believed that the orchestra should be based on Chinese cultural values.