He Garden, originally named Jixiao Villa, is the crowning masterpiece among Yangzhou’s private gardens. It is a national key cultural relics protection unit and a national AAAA-level tourist attraction, and was named among the first batch of national key parks alongside Beijing’s Summer Palace and Suzhou’s Humble Administrator’s Garden.
The garden was built by He Zhidao, a Qing Dynasty official, after he retired from his post in Hubei. The name “Jixiao Villa” comes from a line in Tao Yuanming’s famous poem “Returning to the Country Life” — “Leaning by the southern window to express my proud feelings, and climbing the eastern height to whistle a long song.”
The He family had close ties with several prominent families in modern Chinese history, including Li Hongzhang, a leading figure of the late Qing Dynasty, and Sun Jianai, the tutor of Emperor Guangxu.
