Keyuan was built during the Qing Dynasty by Zhang Jingxiu

Keyuan was built during the Qing Dynasty by Zhang Jingxiu. Construction started in 1850 and was finished by 1858. After that, Keyuan has been expanded and reconstructed a few times.
Zhang Jingxiu was first and second assigned as Anchashi (按察使) of the Guangxi and Jiangxi provinces by a Qing dynasty emperor. (A Qing officer rank which corresponds to a vice governor nowadays.) After he retired and returned to his home town Dongguan he lived in Keyuan. Zhang was good at and fond of Chinese writing, painting, chess, poetry, antiquing, stone collecting, etc. He invited friends, poets, scholars and painters to gather in Keyuan. And that’s how Keyuan became one of the origins of Guangdong culture.

Keyuan Garden means 'a garden not too bad for visiting' in Chinese. Its creator was somewhat on the modest side. In fact, the garden is a splendid architectural work. It is a multifunctional garden which joins the living room, villa, yard, garden and study together skillfully in a limited area. Built in the classical garden style, it has dozens of traditional buildings, including pavilions, pools and bridges and most of the buildings are named with the word Ke (means 'not too bad' in Chinese), such as Kezhou Pool and Ketang Hall.