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According to tradition, a carp that could leap the falls of the Yellow River at Dragon Gate (near Longmen, Zhejiang), would be transformed into a dragon: this motif symbolizes success in the civil service examinations.
Li Tao's father Li Zhong (李中), a 15th-generation descendant of Li Si, passed the imperial examination in Song Dynasty in 1109 and was well known for his knowledge in history and the classics.
Awarded a jinshi degree in the imperial examination in 1761, he was secretary to Fuheng during his Burmese expedition, and in 1770 had risen to be Treasurer of Guangxi, when he was cashiered for want of energy, and orders were given to confiscate his property.
A native of Haining, Zhejiang, he went to Shanghai to work as a proofreader for a newspaper, after failing to pass the Imperial Examination in his hometown, at the age of 22.
The garden was first set up as the private villa of Zhu Zhichun, a Jinshi selected from Imperial examination.
In 851, at the age of 17, he was also the first youngest Number One Scholar (in the imperial examination) in Chinese history since Sui Dynasty and the first Number One Scholar in Lingnan.