Tang Shao’en was from Sichuan province. He was a Jinshi, a candidate from the highest imperial examination in 1526, the 5th year of the Jiajing Period of the Ming Dynasty. In the 14th year of the Jiajiang Period of the Ming Dynasty he was appointed governor of Shaoxing. Later he was promoted to a high-ranking official in Shandong Province. He finally retired from his career and went back home. He passed away at age 97.  

When he was governor of Shaoxing, rivers and streams from Shanyin, Kuaiji and Xiaoshan coalesced at the Three Rivers Junction and emptied into the sea from there. Tides rushed in every day, bringing in dunes, which blocked waters from being diverted from farming fields. Farmers had to break dikes to drain the accumulated water, but as the dikes were broken, reservoirs could do nothing in the summer to relieve droughts. The people then had to build dikes again. Tang Shao’en decided to change this situation. He organized people to look into records for water control information, and investigated watercourses. After several field trips, he decided to build a Three Rivers Gate at a place three kilometers north of Doumen, Yushan. The project started in July 1536 and was completed next year. The dike had 28 water gates, the number of important stars in Chinese ancient astrology. Inside the water gates were three inner emergency gates in case the first dike was broken. Outside the water gates were a dike over 1200 meters long to ward off the tides. A graduated stone was established beside the gates to show water levels and provide data for decisions to open or close the gates. In 1538, Tang Shao’en organized another water control project. He opened all the gates and dikes in the Eastern Dike and Southern Dike of the Jianhu Lake and built them into a 50-kilometer canal for irrigation and water transportation.   

After the Three River Water Gates were built, the area of 50 square kilometers in Shanyin, Kuaiji and Xiaoshan was freed from floods. Local people loved him for this. In the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty people built a memorial temple in Shaoxing City and a memorial temple beside the Three River Water Gates to commemorate Tang the Governor’s deeds. In 1702, the 41st year of the Kangyi Period of the Qing Dynast, Tang Shao’en was given by the Qing emperor a honorable title of Marquis Lingji, a posthumous recognition of his water control achievements.  In 1725, Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty issued a national order to recognize Tang as a Duke. In 1987, a bridge was built near the Three Rivers Water Gates. The Shaoxing County People’s Government named the bridge as Duke Tang’s Bridge in his honor.