The garden is considered the best garden in Nanjing. It takes several minutes walk from Confucius Temple. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty(1368-1644), Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang built and bestowed the garden to his brave and loyal general Xuda. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Eastern King Yang Xiuqing lived here. But the garden was damaged after the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1864, and soon rebuilt in 1865 and 1903. In 1960, the local government renovated it again. 

The museum of the history of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is also set in the garden. Weapons of Taiping troops, imperial seal and imperial robe of Heavenly King of the Kingdom and other relics of the uprising troops are being on display. The west part of the garden is a typical southern garden which has lobbies, corridors, pavilions. The main structure is Jingmiao Hall, encircled in water. The garden is full of rockeries which is the main characteristic of the garden.