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History of Taoranting Park

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Excavations showed that this charming park dates as far back as the 3rd century BC. The site of today¡¯s Taoranting Park was the eastern urban district of the capital city ( Dadu ) of the Jin Dynasty. It was the imperial brick kilns during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

During the Yuan, Ming and Qing, court officials and rich men built their private gardens there. Jiang Zao, the Minister of Industry during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, who was in charge of the brick kilns, built three houses at the Temple of Mercy south of the kiln.

Later this place became an attraction for tourists from far away and those scholars who came to the nation¡¯s capital for imperial civil examinations.

In the past century several famous revolutionaries were closely associated with the Taoranting Pavilion. At the end of the Qing Dynasty Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong came here to plan the Reform Movement of 1898. Zhang Taiyan was imprisoned in the nearby Dragon Spring Temple for his opposition to the usurpation of state power by Yuan Shikai. In the early years of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen attended political meetings in the pavilion, and on several occasions Li Dazhao organized secret revolutionary activities in the most westerly of the three rooms in the northern courtyard of the Zhunti (Cundi) Hall. On the afternoon of August 6, 1920, five progressive societies from Beijing and Tianjin held a joint meeting in the pavilion which was attended by Zhou Enlai and Li Dazhao.

In 1952, the park was completely redesigned - lakes were dredged, seven small hills formed and pavilions built. Today, the park is a romantic and peaceful area where visitors can enjoy pleasant walks and relaxing boat trips.