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Evolutions of Landscape Architecture in Jilin City of Northeastern

China

Yue Hu

, Hongli Zeng

1,*

and Chun Yan

Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

China Fire and Rescue Institute, Beijing 102202, China

Keywords:

History of landscape architecture, Scenic spot, Green space layout, Garden types

Abstract:

According to the unique characteristics of natural geographical environment and important historical

development stages of Jilin City, and using of field research, literature research, and induction and

interpretation, this paper summarizes the development history of landscape architecture in Jilin City into five

development stages: germination stage, turning stage, generation stage, river crossing preliminary stage and

steady development stage. According to the principle of "scenery comes from the environment, borrowing

from the body", this paper analyzes the important reasons for the development and evolution of landscape

architecture in Jilin City from many factors, such as landscape, terrain, vegetation, climate, society, economy,

military, politics, culture and so on. This paper analyzes the reasons why the landscape architecture of

different periods in Jilin city is backward compared with that of other typical regions in the corresponding

period. Finally, it summarizes the significance of the research on the development history of local landscape

architecture for urban development and construction.

1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

For a long time, the academic circle has been

relatively deficient in the study of the landscape

architecture of northeast China and has not yet

formed a systematic historical pedigree of the

landscape architecture of northeast China. With the

improvement of the quality of life of the citizens and

the continuous rise in the pursuit of spiritual

civilization, landscape architecture in the northeast is

generally expected in the future.

1.1 Compilation of History of Chinese

Landscape Architecture

As a key book in the 13th Five-Year Plan, “History of

Chinese landscape architecture”, this book from a

national perspective, excluding the general

description, is divided into five volumes. They are the

history of northern landscape architecture, the history

of Jiangnan landscape architecture, the history of

Lingnan landscape architecture, the history of

Northwest landscape architecture and the history of

Southwest landscape architecture. Influenced by the

compilation of the history of Chinese landscape

architecture, the research on the history of landscape

architecture in the regional scope has been rising

gradually. There have been some scholars started

studying the history of the landscape architecture of

Hebei Province. But the history of landscape

architecture in Northeast China is still blank,

therefore, the study of the landscape architecture

history in Jilin City can just enrich the contents of the

Northern Landscape Architecture History. As

academician Meng Zhaozhen said, “The

accumulation of thousands of years of Chinese

culture has rich connotation, and gardens are an

important part of traditional culture,” which shows

that the study of garden history is of great

significance to the inheritance of Chinese traditional

culture.

1.2 Blank in the Study of the History of

Landscape Architecture in Jilin

City

Northeast China is rich in natural, historical and

cultural landscape resources, and has a lot of famous

scenery, which has been a must for military strategists

since ancient times. Jilin city is located in the core of

Northeast Asia Grand Plan (Figure 1), and in the

Hu, Y., Zeng, H. and Yan, C.

Evolutions of Landscape Architecture in Jilin City of Northeastern China.

DOI: 10.5220/0011015000003354

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE 2021), pages 12-22

ISBN: 978-989-758-560-9; ISSN: 1755-1315

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transition zone from mountain to plain in Jilin

Province (Figure 2). The landform is very rich and

changeable. It is one of the third batch of historical

and cultural cities selected by the state. Jilin's unique

natural landscape resources, historical landscape

resources and humanistic landscape resources are an

important part of landscape architecture in Northeast

China, but there has been no systematic study on the

historical development process. Under the

background of compiling the history of Chinese

landscape architecture, it is necessary to study the

history of landscape architecture in Jilin City, fill in

the blank, and summarize the development history of

landscape architecture in Jilin City for the first time.

Figure 1: Location map of Jilin City.

2 DIVISION OF HISTORICAL

STAGES OF LANDSCAPE

ARCHITECTURE

DEVELOPMENT IN JILIN CITY

Today's landscape architecture is a comprehensive

applied discipline that has broken through the

traditional landscape architecture. There is no mature

and standard system for the study of the history of

local landscape architecture, through collecting and

reading the typical domestic and foreign historical

works, the literature of Jilin City local chronicles, the

research on the construction of the whole and part of

the city, the author forms his own writing technique

line. According to the principle of "scenery comes

from the environment, depending on the local

scenery, the shape is moderate and appropriate",

starting from the landscape, terrain, vegetation,

climate, society, economy, military, politics, culture

and many other factors, combined with the important

historical development stages of Jilin City, the

development history of landscape architecture in Jilin

city can be summarized into five stages: germination

stage, turning stage, generation stage, cross the river

and initial exploration stage and steady development

stage.

2.1 Riverside Germination Period

From the stone age when there were human beings

living in Jilin City, prehistoric human beings formed

settlements along the Songhua River Basin in the

form of settlements, which became the initial and

most original base of the overall landscape of Jilin

City. In the bronze age, the "Xituan Mountain

Culture" named after the Xituan Mountain site in Jilin

City lasted for thousands of years. Farming tools such

as hoes and pickaxes gradually replaced stone axes

and adzes (Dong, 1992). With the improvement of

construction technology, human cave dwellings have

also changed from deep caves to shallow caves.

Houses veneered with birch bark have become

roasted yellow mud plastered surfaces, and

trench-style doorways have been set up (Figure 3).

Figure 2: Water system and topography of Jilin City.

In the Western Han Dynasty, depending on the

natural landscape base suitable for city construction,

Jilin city had its first county, Xuantu Shire

Shangyintai County (Dong, 2009). Driven by the

different cultures and political forces of different

nationalities, Shangyintai County has become a

gathering point of multi-ethnic cultural integration,

and at the same time has produced more advanced

agricultural and handicraft civilization. In

accordance with the land conditions of Jilin

Province, the landscape architecture culture of

people's production and lifestyle and its regional

value system began to sprout, and ‘garden’ and

social activity venues began to appear in villages.

Relying on the abundant natural water network

system of the second basin of Songhua River, the

rudiment of the landscape pattern of mountain, water

Evolutions of Landscape Architecture in Jilin City of Northeastern China

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and city closely integrated in Jilin city gradually

emerged, and there are many settlements along the

river (Figure 4). By the end of the Western Han

Dynasty, the Beifuyu tribal regime was established

in the northeast (Dong, 2009), the regional center

status of Shangyintai County declined, and the

development of its landscape architecture also

stagnated.

(a) half cr

pts on slopin

lan

(b) half cr

pts

uilt on the platfor

of half cr

pt buildin

Figure 3: Residential buildings in the period of Xituan

Mountain (drawn according to the information of Jilin

Museum).

(a) the settlement distribution

(b) the law of settlement location

Figure 4: Distribution of settlements in the riverside

germination period (drawn according to the information of

Jilin Museum).

As Professor Wang Xiangrong said: "the ancients

always regarded the natural and artificial landscape

environment as the basis of urban construction, and

the city formed its own unique landscape pattern and

urban personality in the process of adapting and

transforming the nature." The ancient human

settlements and ancient city landscape in the period of

Xituan Mountain culture and Fuyu kingdom are the

basis of Jilin city form. The ancient people choose the

location based on survival rationality, which has

become the most original power of Jilin city

formation. Today's Jilin city is gradually developed

and expanded based on Nanchengzi ancient city

(Figure 5) in Fuyu period.

2.2 The Turning Point along the River

The development of Chinese urban landscape

architecture is spiraling in the struggle between man

and nature, man and man. The decline of Shangyintai

County in the Western Han Dynasty made the

development of landscape architecture in Jilin City

temporarily stagnate. Until the early Western Jin

Dynasty, the Xianbei tribe grew stronger, and the

Fuyu people eventually disappeared. The Goguryeo

people occupied today’s Jilin City (the eastern part of

Fuyu), and built a military mountain city based on

Longtan mountain on the Songhua River (Wang,

2017) (Figure 5). The Goguryeo regime has only

existed for more than 20 years, but thanks to its

tradition of "Passionate about building palaces"

(Dong, 1998), the development of landscape

architecture in Jilin City has begun to recover. In the

Tang Dynasty, in order to strengthen the rule of the

Northeast, the Bohai State was established, which

was both a local administrative institution and a

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national power (Dong, 1986), Jilin became the state

governor of Suzhou, a solo prefecture in the south of

the Bohai State, and its military defense status was

important. Bohai's prosperous economy and the

improvement of productivity level promote the

planning of ancient cities in Jilin City (Yang, 2011).

Combined with the development of landscape

architecture, there are many ancient cities in Jilin

City, such as Longtanshan Mountain City, Dongguan

Mountain City, Sandaolingzi Mountain City, and the

hengdaozinanshan Mountain City of Jiaohe City,

Lafaxiaolizi Mountain City, etc (Han, 2015). Among

them, Longtan Mountain City (Figure 5) is the largest

and most representative.

(a) the plan of Nanchengzi ancient city (Dong,

2009) (redrawn)

(b) the sketch map of Guocheng of Nanchengzi

ancient cit

Figure 5: Map of the site selection of the Royal City in the

early period of Fuyu.

With the construction of the ancient city, the

princes and nobles have already developed more

advanced above-ground buildings, and the

mausoleum gardens have also begun to develop.

There are many types of tombs such as earth tombs,

brick tombs, and stone tombs. Noble tombs are

accompanied by frescoes, funeral objects,

inscriptions and ground buildings (Dong, 1986).

People of Bohai have a high level of ancient city

planning and landscape design. In Jilin City, the

improvement of landscape architecture consciousness

of people in Bohai is directly reflected in the planning

and construction of Sumi City (Hao, 2016) and

Suzhou City.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the political

situation in the Central Plains was unstable, and there

were frequent wars among the Khitan, Jurchen, and

Mongolians in the northeast. Until Yelu Abaoji

unified the Khitan tribes and established the Liao

regime, Suzhou City in Jilin City became a general

border city of Liao. The Liao people are good at

learning the production technology and Han culture

of Central Plains, imitating the Han system,

developing agriculture, building fortresses,

establishing cities, dealing with the Han people, so

that each has a spouse, and cultivates wasteland

(Zhang et al., 2016). And because the Khitan people

have a hunting tradition, the natural mountain and

woodland are respected by the Liao people (Chen,

1995). The Liao people formulated a series of laws

and policies concerning forest protection, wildlife

protection, and afforestation (Zhang, 2010). In the

Liao Dynasty, Jilin city was formed by the

interdependence of mountains, waters, forests, and

fields.

At the end of the Liao Dynasty, the Jurchen

nationality continued to grow, and eventually

destroyed the Liao Dynasty and built the Jin Dynasty.

On the territory of the Jin Dynasty, the border town of

Suzhou City (Jilin City in now) in the Liao Dynasty

became the golden "inland", and its strategic position

was lost. The Jin Dynasty adopted the military system

of Meng'anmuke for territorial expansion, developed

the smelting industry and ceramic industry by the old

system of the Song Dynasty, actively carried out a

foreign trade, and fundamentally borrowed and

absorbed the Han culture (Bi & Li, 2014). The

development of its landscape gardens should also be

progressive. There are very few relics preserved in

the Jin Dynasty in the Jilin area, but Wanyan Xiyin, a

famous politician, militarist and creator of Nuzhen

script, is his family cemetery (Zhao & Zhang, 2012)

are indeed well preserved. It began to develop into the

Chinese classical garden system, signifies that Jilin

City's landscape garden culture has breakthrough

development.

When Genghis Khan established the Yuan

Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty established Liaoyang and

other provinces in the northeast, and Suzhou became

Jianzhou without an administrative system (Zhang,

2010), only a post station, and its political and

economic status declined for a while. At the same

time, the ancient city clusters along the Yangtze River

Evolutions of Landscape Architecture in Jilin City of Northeastern China

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that existed from the Liao Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty

were also abandoned, and the development of

landscape architecture in the entire area of Jilin City

has stalled here.

2.3 Depend on the River Formation

Period

During the Ming Dynasty, Jilin Province is relatively

densely populated, and the Ming Dynasty established

Ulawei here. Ulawei established Wula Ancient City

(Table 1), which is the ancient city of Suzhou in the

Bohai period. In order to strengthen the ties between

the Liaodong Dusi and Nurgandos, especially to

strengthen the Ming Dynasty’s control of Nuergan,

Set up a shipyard on the hub of transportations

Songhua River (Gu, 2012), which consuming a large

amount of locally grown red pine, the forest resources

of Jilin Province were subjected to unprecedented,

large-scale and organized exploitation for the first

time.

Table 1: Construction history of the ancient city of "Wula

City".

Dynasty Historical changes

Bohai

State

Period

 The Chengguo was built on the edge

of Sumo River, one kilometer

northwest of the old street to the

north of today's ancient city

 It was destroyed by war in Liao

nast

Jin

Dynasty

 Build a city in today’s Old Street on

the north side of the ancient city,

known as “ulahonil cit

”

Ming

Dynasty

 "Ulahonil city" was seriously

damaged in the turmoil

 The old city was rebuilt and renamed

"neiluo city"

 Around neiluo city, wailuo city was

build in the north, East and south.

 A slightly square palace city was

built in the center, known as the

"Forbidden City."

 The high platform built in the

Forbidden City is called "White

Flower Point General Platform"

 The ancient city was destroyed by

Qing

Dynasty

 Restoration of the ancient city

 Sanxiao hall was built on the "White

Flower Point General Platform", and

later Lingguan pavilion was built

 Then, because of the flooding of the

river, the new city was built

 Built the “Wula City”

In addition, during the Ming Dynasty, Jilin

Province was the key outside the Great Wall in the

Northeast. In order to effectively control the

northeast, the Ming Dynasty regime set up Military

Bodies in the Jurchen tribe and the U Harian three

guards to carry out the political rule of “restricting

foreign by foreign” and appoint the heads of various

ministries as the officers of the Department of Health,

and pay regular tribute to the Ming Dynasty and trade

exchanges (Chen, 2006). The establishment of

"Selling Horses" in Jilin Province has a greater

impact on the landscape of Jilin City. Since the

Jurchen area of Jilin Province is rich in horses, it often

exchanges with the Central Plains Dynasty.

Large-scale horse breeding like this requires a large

area of land. So now, on the whole, the overall

landscape of Jilin City is characterized by low

mountains and hills. Pastoral landscape dominated by

river valley plains.

Figure 6: Plan of Longtan Mountain City.

In 1613, the Wula Acropolis was destroyed (Figure

6). The development of Jilin region turned into

depression (Ying, 2014). Since Jilin Province is the

holy land of Qing ancestors, the Qing emperors’

sentiments to this place directly affected the

landscape pattern of Jilin City. On the one hand, the

Qing Dynasty set up an observatory altar at Xiaobai

Mountain, and on the other hand, several Jiulong

Mountain were cut away to break the dragon veins of

Jilin City (Gu, 2012). At the same time, the Qing

Dynasty built a wall in the northeast and implemented

a ban policy, designate the Northeast as a Manchu

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settlement to maintain the traditions and customs of

Manchu, riding and shooting, It is stipulated that the

Han nationality must not go beyond the boundary,

and the cultural blending between inside and outside

the boundary is slowed down, and the speed of the

spread of the landscape garden culture within the

boundary to the outside is also slowed down (Xu,

2005). It directly affected the development of Jilin

City's landscape gardens.

It was not until the first year of Qianlong (1736)

that the Yongzhou Confucian Temple (Zhao, 1991)

(now Jilin Confucian Temple) was built in Jilin City,

and the integration of Manchu and Han cultures

began to formally develop on the land of Jilin. The

free blending of culture has brought the architecture

and garden culture of the Central Plains to Jilin City.

There are many courtyards and quadrangle courtyards

in Jilin City, and the Fushen Residence Garden also

intends to decorate the gardens. Temple gardens,

private house gardens, and government office

gardens have seen unprecedented development

(Table 2).

Table 2: List of garden relics in the period of river

generation.

Types Representative Garden

Yamen Garden

Chief yamen of Dasheng Wula

Jilin general Mansion

Private house

garden

Kuifu Masion Garden

Hou fu Masion Garden

Sa fu Masion Garden

Wang Baichuan courtyard

Niu Zihou's old house garden

EN house courtyard

Temple garden

"Waiba Temple" in Wula

ancient cit

Zhenwu Temple of

Xuantianling

Yuhuang Pavilion of Beishan

Confucius Temple of Jilin

Academy Garden Chongwen Academy

Until the seventh year of Guangxu (1881), before

the Qing Dynasty organized the armory in Jilin City,

over the past two hundred years, Jilin City has

developed from the initial military garrison to the

handicraft industry and commercial regional trade

center (Wang, 2011), and the level of productivity

has reached the highest level ever. The relationship

between "city" and "market" has gradually merged,

and the urban landscape has also begun to change

from the shape of an ancient city to a modern city.

Until the construction of the Middle East Railway

in 1898, Tsarist Russian soldiers forced mining, road

repair, logging, and business operations here. The

overall style of Jilin gradually changed to an

industrial city landscape (Li, 2007). At the same time,

because the late Qing government collected logging

taxes and opened up the forest area, a large number of

Chinese and foreign timber merchants poured into the

forest area to cut indiscriminately. The great virgin

forest has been severely damaged and devastated. The

original harmony of mountains, water, forests and

fields is related to the destruction.

In general, the development of landscape

architecture in Jilin City during the Ming and Qing

Dynasties is a highlight in the history of landscape

architecture in Jilin City. The historical changes of

the ancient city of Wula and the establishment of the

shipyard and the new Jilin City laid the foundation for

the evolution of Jilin City into an industrial city. The

Fengshui pattern of "Four Mountains and One River"

in the New City of Jilin in the Qing Dynasty (Wu,

2005)

(Figures 7 and 8) established the basic urban

structure of the "One River and Three Districts" of

Jilin City in later generations (Wang, 2011). During

the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the major types of

landscape gardens achieved unprecedented

development (Xia & Cai, 2010). The overall urban

style, urban planning and layout, government offices

and industrial gardens, private home gardens, and

academies and temple gardens can all be verified

through literature or physical remains.

Figure 7: Schematic diagram of the site selection of Jilin

City.

Evolutions of Landscape Architecture in Jilin City of Northeastern China

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Figure 8: Fengshui sketch map of Jilin City in Qing

Dynasty (Lin et al., 1997) (repainted).

2.4 The Initial Exploration Period

across the River

After the turbulent development period from the

Republic of China to the Puppet Manchukuo in the

late Qing Dynasty, Jilin also continued to develop in

the process of fighting against foreign aggressive

forces (Yang, 2008). The city is constantly

transforming in the struggle, developing into an

industrial city with excellent revolutionary spirit, and

at the same time forming a city landscape with its

own characteristics.

While the military defense function is slowly

fading, the commercial function of the city is

gradually improving. The city wall of the ancient city

of Jilin was dismantled, and the limits restricting the

development of urban space disappeared. the

industrial and commercial landscape of Jilin City has

also been developed, but under the influence of the

"four mountains and one water" landscape pattern of

Jilin City, the development and change of urban

landscape is not very great.

In a turbulent social context, the development of

Jilin City's urban is slowly expanding (Figure 9). The

city contour line and street landscape texture are

gradually clear. The mature technology of railway

and bridge construction has led to the generation and

development of riverside green space (Chen, 2020a;

Qian & Chen, 2004) (mainly east mountain railway

bridge, full bridge and Jilin bridge). Monasteries and

academy gardens preserved by the Qing Dynasty

developed into urban parks during this period. The

difference of social class and the invasion of Japanese

puppet rulers made the urban and rural residential

buildings also present obvious class differentiation

and ethnic difference. Due to the needs of economic

development, although some relevant protection

policies were formulated during this period, the forest

resources were still destroyed to a certain extent in

essence.

Figure 9: Schematic diagram of urban expansion.

2.5 Steady Development Period

Since the liberation of Jilin in 1948, the production

and construction of Jilin City have been fully restored

from my country’s first five-year plan (Li, 1988).

After experiencing a short period of stagnation during

the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution,

the implementation of the reform and opening policy

in the 1980s began to resume development. In today’s

information age, the development of landscape

architecture in Jilin City has been steadily improved

amidst twists and turns, and the city’s landscape

architecture awareness has also been gradually

improved.

While Jilin City comprehensively promotes

economic construction, the demands of urban

development increasingly require innovation in the

old urban area. Jilin's cross-river development also

officially began at this time. In this way, the

comprehensive development trend of Jilin City's

"One River and Three Districts" (Figure 10) has

formally taken shape.

In the process of development, on the one hand,

restricted by the landscape pattern of Jilin City, and

on the other hand, affected by the historical

limitations of the consciousness of landscape

architecture, the development of Jilin City’s

landscape architecture has undergone a triple

transformation:1) Many blocks with historical and

educational significance are in the founding of the

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country. It was demolished and built during the early

period or during the "Cultural Revolution", which

made the street's landscape and architecture lose its

historicity. 2)Relying on the inherently excellent

natural ecological base, while carrying out economic

construction, the planning and construction of

supporting green space has been neglected, resulting

in that the green space system of Jilin City is still

incomplete.3)As the economic and cultural

construction of Jilin City has been steadily improved,

people's material living standards have gradually

improved, and people's demand for green ecological

space has gradually increased. Jilin City also began to

pay attention to the planning of green space system,

attention to the protection and utilization of historical

resources of urban landscape.

Figure 10: Schematic diagram of "one river and three

districts" mode.

In the period of steady development, although the

goal of building an international garden city with a

certain charm was proposed. However, due to the

determination of the nature of the city with "chemical

industry as the main part" and the weakness of the

"garden consciousness", the pace of the development

of urban garden and green space in the early days of

the People's Republic of China was still slow. After

the continuous baptism of the "First Five-Year Plan",

"Great Leap Forward", "Cultural Revolution" and

"Reform and Opening Up", Jilin City's landscape

architecture awareness has been continuously

improved, and a systematic green space planning and

construction pattern has gradually formed.

3 CONCLUSION

From a nationwide perspective, the study of the

history of the development of landscape architecture

in local cities can provide a more targeted reference

for the development and construction of cities in

landscape architecture, it provides the most direct

reference of landscape resources for the construction

of the city itself, so the research on the history of

landscape architecture in local cities is of great

significance to the development and construction of

the city. This paper systematically combs the history

of Jilin from the Xituanshan culture period to more

than 3,000 years, from which the development of Jilin

City landscape architecture can be summarized.

3.1 Status Quo of Protection and

Utilization of Landscape Resources

in Jilin City

In terms of natural scenery resources, relying on the

unique landscape framework of four mountains and

one river, Jilin City’s urban greening occupies an

inherent advantage, and most of the landscape

resources have been well utilized. Beishan Park,

Xuantianling Cultural Park, and Longtanshan Site

Parks and green belts along the river have been built

to greatly enrich the daily leisure life of citizens.

Zhuqueshan National Forest Park and Songhua Lake

Scenic Area in the suburbs are not only short-term

leisure places for residents of the city, but also a

famous tourist attraction that can reflect the cultural

characteristics of Jilin City.

In terms of historical buildings and gardens,

restricted by the historical limitations of economic

development and landscape gardening consciousness,

many historical and cultural heritages and historical

sites have suffered irreparable damage. For example,

the city wall of Jilin in the Qing Dynasty was built in

the 12th year of the reign of Kangxi, and is regarded

as a historical scar of the city. The scar was removed

after the Japanese invasion. In the history of Jilin,

there are many historical relics, such as the provincial

government and the military and government offices,

which have the characteristics of The Times, but now

there is no trace of them. There were six gatehouses in

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the east, north and west parts of the old city, which

were also damaged due to historical factors. These

resources of landscape architecture, which can reflect

the historical features of the city, can only be found in

old photos. Compared with the protection of

historical buildings and historical gardens in cities

such as Shanghai and Nanjing, the historical relics of

Jilin City are well preserved.

In terms of the characteristics of the city, after Jilin

City was classified as a “chemical city”, most of the

industrial sites left over from history have not been

well protected due to development needs, and the

construction of subsidiary green spaces and

protective green spaces in the industrial zone has been

relatively weak. The characteristics of industrial

cities have not been fully landscaped.

3.2 Prospects and Suggestions for the

Development of Landscape

Architecture in Jilin

As a famous historical and cultural city, Jilin has

numerous high-rise buildings made of steel and

concrete, instead of traditional buildings and houses

that can reflect its culture, and many cultural relics

have been lost over time (Chen, 2020b; Yan, 2016).

The paper researches the history of landscape

architecture in Jilin, and the author believes that in its

future development, awareness of landscape

architecture should be enhanced, and the concept of

conservation established.

Firstly, we need to conserve scenic spots, cultural

heritage sites, cultural relics, and traditional

dwellings in a focused manner so as to develop

cultural features. Besides, we need to control the

spatial profile of the city, showing the natural

landscape of the city with its coexistence of

mountains and water.

Secondly, we need to protect the overall scene of

the “river city”. The name was given by Emperor

Kangxi who wrote a poem about Songhua River. In

the 12th Five-Year Cultural Industry Development

Plan issued by the Jilin Municipal Government, the

culture of the beautiful river city is clearly defined

and elaborated. The river is therefore an important

natural landscape resource that should be protected in

its future development. The height, form and color of

buildings along the river should be controlled, and the

maintenance and further design of green spaces along

the river should make full use of the historical theme

of the “shipyards”, thus making it more educational

and meaningful. Meanwhile, water pollution should

be prevented, water resources should be fully utilized,

and water and ice sports can also reflect the feature of

the “river city”.

Thirdly, it is necessary to regulate the landscape of

the “old city”. As an important commodity

distribution center, Jilin used to be well served by

both water and land transport. It was also the capital

city of Jilin province, and Shanying District used to

be home to numerous shops, all of which had elegant

storefronts well connected by roads and buildings,

thus making it an important area reflecting its

traditional scene and revealing cultural atmosphere.

Now these historic districts are no longer what they

used to be. In the future, Jilin should learn from the

experience and lessons of the past and put more

emphasis on combining the modernization of the city

with the preservation of its historical and cultural

features. Therefore, we should control the size of the

city, ensuring that the population of the central city

does not sabotage its historical landscape. Besides,

we are supposed to improve the dwelling quality for

local residents, paying more attention to their daily

life. On this basis, we can take measures to restore the

historic scene of the old city. We should make it clear

that the preservation of historical and cultural

resources should be through restoration instead of

reconstruction. In addition, stone monuments and

sculptures can be used to represent its history, and its

regional features can be elaborated to ensure that the

original architectural forms and colors can be

preserved. Local snacks and handicrafts should be

used to contribute to services and tourism by setting

up long-established shops, so that the local tradition

can last long.

Fourthly, landscape architecture can be used to

protect those cultural heritage protection units (Chen,

2021; Yang, 2018). As of 2019, Jilin is home to a

total of 24 national key cultural relics protection

units, as well as more than 40 provincial key cultural

relics protection units. These historical relics prove

that Jilin is an important cultural cradle in the

Songhua River basin, and also witness Jilin’s gradual

evolution from a cultural birthplace to a military area,

a political, economic and transportation hub.

Specifically, historical landscape conservation

areas can be established: Xituanshan Cultural

Landscape Conservation Area, Historical and

Cultural Landscape Conservation Area, Wula Street

Historical and Landscape Conservation Area,

Beishan Cultural Landscape Conservation Area and

Longtanshan Cultural Ancient City Landscape

Conservation Area. For example, Wula Street in

Longtan District is home to buildings and numerous

Manchu dwellings known as one of the four tribute

bases of the Qing Dynasty, and it is an area where

Manchu people live with a reputation of their

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hometown. Therefore, the Wula Street Historical

Landscape Area can use Manchu folk buildings as the

main buildings. It can be used as a typica

l area of

historic landscape reserve together with tributary

culture temple architectures in Northeast China.

In addition, the “Songhua River Water Resources

Conservation Zone” can be established. A

combination of the nature of Songhua River and the

history of the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors’ tour of

Jilin and their inspection of the Jilin Navy can be

reflected in the details of the landscape architecture

planning, thus highlighting the historical and cultural

connotations of Jilin as a “land of prosperity”.

Besides, infrastructure such as parks and green

spaces can also be installed, which means that the

protection of key historical heritage units should be in

line with Protection of Cultural Relics Act, and these

heritage units can contribute to the construction of

parks and green spaces. For instance, the

Longtanshan Mountain was built as a heritage park,

the former site of the Wang Baichuan Residence was

repaired and built as a city heritage museum with

local culture, and the Jilin Machine Bureau emerged

as Jilin City Arts Center after more than a century of

war, destruction, and restoration.

The city embraces rather scattered historical and

cultural monuments, and the ancient monuments and

buildings are protected in order, putting historical and

cultural landscapes and cultural routes into the

protection system. Besides, the cultural landscape of

Jilin is inherited, thus further accumulating historical

culture, creating a city cultural brand with regional

features and showcasing historical and cultural charm

to the outside world. The lives of the people are

enriched, so that Jilin can still develop as an ancient

historical and cultural city.

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