1927—1937年杭州城市绿化建设实践及历史特征

Practice and Historical Characteristics of Urban Greening Construction in Hangzhou During the Period from 1927 to 1937

【目的】在民国时期的近代化转型过程中,杭州拉开了风景建设的帷幕,并在正式建市后的10年间步入了蓬勃发展时期,绿化建设是其中重要的内容,对此进行研究可以为近代风景城市建设理论提供补充。【方法】通过广泛收集政府档案、报刊、地方志等文献,梳理相关历史背景,考证1927—1937年城市道路、公园名胜、山区林地以及生产绿地的绿化建设实践,并探究其历史特征。【结果】研究表明:这一时期城市园林绿地的布局由湖滨新市场向东面城区和西湖环湖区域拓展;对西方绿化建设经验的进一步借鉴促进了造景风格的多元化;立足本地风土的速生树种选择使得绿化效果在短期内显现成为现实;涉及苗木栽植、维护等一系列事宜的方法仍待改善。【结论】一系列绿化举措促使杭州在20世纪30年代即渐具国际性旅游城市之雏形,对后续的城市发展具有深远的影响。

[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to modern theories of scenic urban construction.[Methods] Based on a thorough review of an extensive collection of historical documents related to the greening construction of Hangzhou during the Republican period with a focus on primary sources, this research explores the historical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 indepth 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.