Abstract: More and more attention by all sectors of society has paid to the greenway construction in our country. However, research on historic and cultural greenway is yet to be perfected. The key to historic and cultural greenway construction is the specific interpretation of history and culture. This paper takes the design of greenway landscape around old railways in Xiamen as an example and discusses the culture interpretation mode of historic and cultural greenway from the aspects of culture interpretation carrier, culture experience level and culture interpretation technique. Using cultural means of interpretation such as representation, abstraction, metaphor and symbol and based on the four cultural experience levels of human beings, it tries embody the historical and cultural elements in carriers such as greenway trails, thematic sightseeing and landscape facilities etc. , and thus integrate culture expression with greenway construction and culture experience with greenway relaxation activities. As the main method of urban greenway design, the cultural interpretation mode of historical and cultural greenway unearths the historical and cultural landscapes scattering in the city and allows people to sense the historical and cultural features of each city while experiencing the ecological recreation function of the greenway.