Douban is named after a hutong in Chaoyang District, Beijing where the founder lived while he began work on the website.

In 2005, Yang started to create a website for travelling named Lüzong (驴宗), initially a one-person project at a Starbucks in Beijing.

[citation needed] Douban has attracted a large number of intellectuals who are eager to discuss social issues.

[18] That year also saw the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and Douban further extended its keyword list to ban any terms that are likely to relate to the incident.

In mainland China, films and television programs with LGBT themes are subject to state censorship.

On 12 February 2019, Douban officially announced that "mass score-changing is abnormal and it won't be counted in the total score.