Dong Qichang
The garden was first set up as the private villa of Zhu Zhichun, a Jinshi selected from Imperial examination. Its size was rarely enlarged for hundreds of years until Dong Qichang, a Chinese painter, calligrapher of the later period of the Ming Dynasty, built several more ancient architectural complex on its original basis. In 1797, the garden began to be used as a foundling hospital until it was well repaired and reopened to the public in 1959.