Objective  A scenic city can be defined as a city with beautiful natural scenery and long history that is featured by the organic amalgamation of human and natural landscape. Hangzhou is a typical representative of scenic cities featuring city-landscape integration, whose development and transformation have been closely linked to the West Lake since ancient times. In the process of modernization and transformation during the Republican period, Hangzhou entered an important period of exploration in the construction of urban landscape, witnessing drastic changes to its spatial patterns through the demolition of city wall and the construction of roads, new types of transportation systems and public amenities. After being officially established as an administrative city in May 1927, Hangzhou entered a period of rapid economic and social development, known as the “Golden Decade” (ending with the fall of Hangzhou in December 1937 during the War of Resistance against Japan). During this period, the government made great efforts to construct public works, and the modernization of the city’s landscape took great strides forward. Although there is a considerable amount of literature focusing on urban construction in Hangzhou during the Republican period, there is a lack of a systematic overview of greening construction. As an important initiative to enhance the urban landscape, greening strategies and techniques are of significant research value, and an in-depth research on them will serve as a critical complement to modern theories of scenic urban construction.

Methods  Based on a thorough review of an extensive collection of historical documents related to the greening construction of Hangzhou during the Republican period with a focus on primary sources, this research explores the historical characteristics of Hangzhou from the following four aspects: green space layout, landscaping style, tree species selection, and management and maintenance. The materials collected include government archival papers, newspapers, periodicals, local chronicles, and academic monographs. The historical background of greening construction in Hangzhou during the Republican period is clarified through the recovery of fragmented and partial records from the historical materials. Additionally, macro integration and in-depth analysis are conducted to verify the greening construction practice of urban roads, parks, scenic spots, mountainous woodlands and productive plantation areas under the guidance of the government during the “Golden Decade”.

Results  The analysis results reveal the historical and the holistic conception of greening construction. As the local government gradually came to realize the city’s tourism potential and its implications for the city’s future, the radical improvement to the quality of the city’s landscape during the Republican period took on great urgency. The dismantling of flag camps and city walls and the holding of the West Lake Exposition contributed to the formation of “city-lake integration”. Dedicated institutions for urban construction and management also began to emerge, revealing a trend of the expansion of jurisdiction scope as well as the division and refinement of labor and functions. The establishment of the Hangzhou Municipal Government in 1927 heralded the initial establishment of a modern municipal administration system, and under its auspices, the city’s greening industry became increasingly flourished. In terms of specific greening practice: 1) The layout of the green spaces extended and expanded from the city-lake junction of the Lakeside New Market to the more densely populated eastern urban area and the lake-ring area of the West Lake rich in scenic resources. 2) In response to public demand for diversity in the landscaped environment, politicians and municipal experts trained in Europe, America or Japan in greening construction were roped in throughout the planning, construction, maintenance and promotion of urban landscape. This led to a blend of East Asian and Western landscaping styles during this period. 3) Being pragmatic to a certain degree, the selection of tree species was mostly based on local natural geographical conditions and matched the landscape needs of different types of green spaces. Due to the poor foundation of greening and relatively tight budgets, the main objective was to rapidly achieve greening effects in a short term, with the ornamental, economic and cultural values of plants being all taken into consideration. 4) Due to insufficient greening practice, a series of methods for planting and maintenance of plants were still under exploration. Besides, the weak concept of environmental protection amongst the public and the lack of management and maintenance expertise made it impossible to achieve the optimal greening results.

Conclusion  As an initial exploration of urban landscape construction in the process of modernization, Hangzhou’s greening practice clearly leveraged its landscape resources more strategically than any other Chinese landscape cities in the same period. The municipal authorities, with technocrats at their core, played a leading role in greening construction. The decade-long greening efforts made by Hangzhou to develop into a magnificent landscape city contribute to the emergence of Hangzhou as an international tourist city in the 1930s and have a profound impact on the modern transformation of the city we see today.