Back in 1978 before the establishment of special economic zone, Shenzhen was just a small fishing village. Soon after the establishment of the special economic zone, the municipal government realized the need for a modern botanical garden to serve the public and tourists, as well as for carrying out scientific research and educational activities. Therefore, in April 1982, a botanical garden was planned at the initial locality in Mount Lianhuashan, Futian District, and it was named as Lianhuashan Botanical Garden. Planning and design work began to be carried out. Before the initiation of construction, however, in January 1983, Prof. Sun Xiaoxiang was invited by the municipal government to lead an expert team to re-examine the locality. The outcome was that Mount Lianhuashan was not deemed as an ideal locality for a botanical garden. Dakentang, lies between east of Shenzhen Reservoir and northwest slope of Mount Wutongshan was considered more appropriate because it had more diverse terrain, with plenty of microhabitats, small creeks and more extensive forests. Therefore, Prof. Sun recommended a change of the venue from Mount Lianhuashan to Dakengtang, and he renamed the area as Fairy Lake Botanical Garden. In August of the same year, the municipal government approved this proposal. This marked the official start of Fairy Lake Botanical Garden.


In September 1983, the Municipal Planning Bureau of Shenzhen determined the boundary line of the Garden. Prof. Sun proposed that the garden should be focused primarily as a tourism-oriented public attraction, with beautiful landscapes and scenery, but that it should also include scientific research, education and propagation. Prof. Meng was invited to take charge of the overall design of the Garden. His colleagues, Profs. Bai Rixin, Huang Jinqi and Yang Laili collaborated closely to finish the layout plan and the design of major scenic spots. Some young teachers and postgraduates were invited to join the team, one of them was Mr. He Fang, and he was appointed as the design representative. The layout plan was approved by the Municipal Planning Bureau in February 1984. The formal construction work started on 1 December of the same year. The Garden was officially opened to the public on 1 May 1988.


In response to rapid development in the mid-1990s, SZBG had gradually shifted from a landscape, tourism and leisure-based botanical garden, to a science-oriented botanical garden. The Garden began to employ qualified personnel for the purposes of scientific research, conservation biology and education; this together with improvement of the research facilities, increased funding, have all led to achievement of higher quality results, thus positioning the Garden as one of the leaders of this field in China.

The SZBG has undergone two important expansions in the last decade. Shenzhen Institute of Landscape Science and Luohu District Orchard were merged with the Garden in 2011 and 2017 respectively, which resulted in an increase both in the professional team and land area. This new addition of 71 hectares lies on the west side of the Garden, providing valuable space and opportunity for future development. The design and the construction for the new area is underway.

It is worth mentioning that the XIX International Botanical Congress was held in Shenzhen in July 2017, SZBG was fully engaged in the congress preparation and onsite work. Various satellite conferences were held in the Garden and numerous colleagues from home and overseas visited the Garden. In March 2019, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area·2019 Shenzhen Flower Show was held in the Garden, attracting more than 700,000 visitors to come and enjoy the flowers over the course of the ten day show, which became a local carnival. In addition, the annual Shenzhen Forest Concert held in every winter in the Garden since 2018 has also become a regular program for audiences to enjoy the music in the forest.