Aili Garden (Hatong Garden) was the largest and most extravagant private garden of Shanghai; it belonged to Mr.Hardoon and his wife. Silas Aaron Hardoon was a rich and famous Jewish real estate magnate of British nationality in early 20th-century Shanghai. The name Aili had a special meaning: "Aaron loves Lisa" and Lisa was Hardoon’s wife’s English name. However, Shanghai local residents are used to call this garden: Hatong Garden.

The garden was designed by a famous monk named Huang Zongyang of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The main idea of the layout is "Chinese-style supplemented by Western fashion." The project started in 1904, lasted 6 years and was completed in 1909, covering more than 170mu (7 mu=1 acre), combining inner and outer gardens. The big garden contained more than 80 scenic spots, such as babbling brooks, exquisitely carved rockeries, glorious and magnificent balconies and quaint pavilions, each with an inscription written by a famous calligrapher. Besides, there were two peculiar buildings made Aili Garden so different from other private gardens, that is, a Buddhist Institutes. For the sake of Mrs. Hardoon’s Buddhist religious, the Buddhist Institute named Huayan was established especially for her; moreover, it was the first local Buddhist Institute. Another Buddhist Institute called Shengcangmingzhi was set up later. It was one of most influential Buddhist Institutes in contemporary China, even Wang guowei, the highly respected master of Sinology and Xu beihong who was a famed master of Chinese ink painting, once worked and lived here. Additionally, Hardoon was interested in the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BC) so much. He made a huge investment in collecting bones or tortoise shells which was found in Anyang, Henan province, he also invited scholars such as Luo Zhenyu to conduct research into them. There was no doubt that many Chinese bone inscriptions experts’ brilliant and successful careers were started from Aili Garden.

It was not only a private garden severing for Hardoons, but also used as a gathering place for social celebrities and big-wigs from political circles. After 1911 Revolution, Dr. Sun Yat-sen came back Shanghai and lived in Aili Garden for a short while, later, he was inaugurated as temporary president of Republic of China (ROC) in Nanjing. Mr. Zhang taiyan and Mrs. Tang guoli’s wedding ceremony was also held in Aili Garden.

Unfortunately, the attractive garden which offered fascinating scenery was unable to survive from a series of dilapidation and was completely ruined by 1945. After the death of Hardoon in 1931 and his widow in 1941, the garden was lack of management and fell into disrepair. During the War of Resistance against Japan (1937-45), Japanese troops took advantage of the garden as an encampment; the garden was also suffered from several fires, finally it’s destructed a lot and became ruins.

The garden was rebuilt as the Sino-Soviet Friendship Mansion in 1955. After another large-scaled reconstruction, it’s known as the Shanghai Exhibition Center now.