Lihu Lake, anciently known as Qihu Lake or Xiaowu Lake, is an inner lake of Taihu Lake within Wuxi's boundaries. According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Fan Li, a minister of the State of Yue, and his concubine Xi Shi retreated here, giving the lake its ancient name. In the Ming Dynasty, some people compared it to West Lake in Hangzhou. In the early Republic of China, Yu Xunzhen, the district chief of the third district of Wuxi County and a native of Qingqi Village, developed scenic spots on the northern shore of Lihu Lake. He named it the "Eight Views of Qingqi" and inscribed "A District of Clear Mountains and Beautiful Waters" at the intersection.
In the 16th year of the Republic of China (1927), Wang Yuqing, a fellow villager of Yu, became wealthy from running a flour business in Shanghai. With Yu's help, he hired engineer Zheng Tingzhen, who had studied in Japan, to construct Li Garden based on the Eight Views of Qingqi. The garden was named after the lake. They piled earth and stacked rocks, built bridges over water, and constructed the Hundred-Foot Corridor, Lakeside Cottage, Jingxuan Tower, Yongfen Pavilion, and Hanxiang Pavilion, among other buildings. After three years, the garden covered an area of approximately thirty mu. In 1936, Wang Yuqing's son, Wang Kangyuan, expanded the garden by another ten mu over a period of one and a half years. He built the Ningchun Tower, Qinghong Yanlv Waterside Pavilion (Lake Center Pavilion), Yi'an Villa (Spanish-style house), an open-air dance floor, a swimming pool, and additional facilities including a water tower and power plant. With its beautiful Li Garden scenery, comfortable accommodation, and fashionable entertainment facilities, it attracted guests and tourists, making an attempt at combining gardening and tourism.
Since 1930, Chen Meifang, a relative of Mr. Wang, entrusted Yu Xunzhen and Chen Zhixin to build a fishing village covering nearly 60 mu of land on the west side of Li Garden, named "Sai Li Garden". They hired Jiang Jiayuan from Dongyang, Zhejiang Province to build rockeries in the garden. In 1937, with the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the gardening activities were suspended. Therefore, there were very few buildings in the garden, only including small pavilions in front and behind the rockery, Lotus Boat, and Baihua Mountain House.
After Wuxi fell to the Japanese, Li Garden was occupied by the Japanese army, while Fisherman's Village was taken over by the Wang Jingwei puppet regime's Jiangsu Provincial Fishery and Animal Husbandry Experimental Farm. Both gardens suffered severe damage.
After the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the authorities took over Li Garden and converted Jingxuan Building and Yi'an Villa into a hotel. On October 30, 1946, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong May-ling stayed at Jingxuan Building in Wuxi to "avoid birthday celebrations."
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the local government comprehensively renovated Li Garden and Yuzhuang. In 1952, the Hundred-Meter Gallery of Li Garden was extended 200 meters to the west, connecting with Yuzhuang, and they were collectively known as "Li Garden". In 1954, the Four Seasons Pavilion and arch bridge were constructed, further enhancing the scenery. Later, a part of the old Li Garden was allocated to foreign affairs departments and became the garden of Lakeside Hotel, where the original cultural relics and landscape were well preserved.
From 1978 to 1982, the gardening department expanded the "Ripples and Reflections" scenic area to cover an additional 28 mu (approximately 4.7 acres). They constructed the Spring and Autumn Pavilion, Red Smartweed Pavilion, Fish-Counting Balustrade, and Water-Dry Corridor. The new and old gardens were seamlessly connected, appearing as if they had always been a unified design. This project won the second prize for outstanding design from the Ministry of Construction. The new and old scenic areas were merged and collectively named "Li Garden". The park management office administered an area of 123 mu (approximately 20.7 acres), while the Lakeside Hotel managed approximately 30 mu (approximately 5 acres).
In 1990, relevant municipal departments applied for Li Garden to be recognized as an outstanding modern building at the provincial level. Subsequently, Li Garden underwent comprehensive renovation, including the reconstruction of Baihua Mountain House, reinforcement of the lake rockery, lakeside embankment and long corridor, and restoration of a batch of plaques, couplets and interior furnishings. The stamp "Taihu Lake and Lihu Lake in Misty Green" issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 1995 and the stamp "Taihu Lake" issued by North Korea in 1996 both featured Li Garden as their theme. This made Li Garden, renowned for its unique Jiangnan water scenery garden style, well-known far and wide.
