A former location for literati to get together, while most of Beijing's gardens were reserved only for imperial families during the Qing dynasty, it gained its name from a poem by the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi, "Wait till the chrysanthemums are yellow and home-made wine is ripe, (I'll) drink with you and be carefree."(更待菊黄家酿熟，与君一醉一陶然).

It also hosts the tomb of the lovers Gao Junyu and Shi Pingmei.

Gao Junyu and Shi's graves are a place of pilgrimage for young couples[1] as well as that of Sai Jinhua.

The Taoran Pavilion was built in the 34th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign (1695).

The chief engineer, Jiang Zao (江藻), who supervised the kiln workshop, oversaw the construction.