East Lake is located on the east side of Linhai Ancient City. It was excavated during the Northern Song Dynasty and was originally a place where the navy parked its boats and garrisoned troops. In the fourth year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty (1071), Qian Xuan, the governor of Taizhou County, dredged and expanded the lake to build it and turned it into a garden. The Linhai Municipal Government has also carried out large-scale renovations on East Lake with reference to its historical features, making this thousand-year-old garden more dazzling.
Since the Song Dynasty, there have been dredging and repairs in the East Lake Dynasty. Especially in the 18th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign (1676) and the 10th year of Tongzhi's reign (1871), it was renovated twice by Taizhou County Governors Bao Futai and Liu Ao. The scale was very impressive and it became the first garden in Taizhou. Yu Yue, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, once said: "Hangzhou has the West Lake, and Taizhou has the East Lake. The best of the East Lake is the Little West Lake."
The southeast entrance is Yishui Villa, because of Du Fu's poem "The famous garden depends on the green water." And got its name. There are buildings commemorating Qian Xuan and the Qian family, commonly known as "Qian Garden".