Soil respiration, the CO₂ efflux from soil, is a major carbon flux between ecosystems and the atmosphere. Identifying soil respiration rates of a variety of ecosystems is a necessary step in understanding of global carbon (C) cycling. However, while soil respiration of many non-urban ecosystems such as forest, grassland, desert and cropland have received much attention, little information is available of soil respiration in urban ecosystems. Specifically, the data about soil respiration from turfgrass cultivation is scare, despite that this ecosystem is expanding quickly along with a high rate of urbanization and that C releases from turfgrass soil have shown the potential to alter local C cycling process and C budget. In this study, the seasonal variation in soil respiration, measured using LI-8100 automated soil CO₂ flux system, was monitored biweekly for one year (Jan to Dec 2008) in a subtropical Zoysia matrella turfgrass in the Minjiang Riverside Park of Fuzhou City (26°03' N, 119°15' E), Fujian Province, China. The effects of clipping and irrigation on soil respiration were also investigated. The results indicated that the seasonal variation in soil respiration characterized a pattern of mono-peak curve and varied from 38.99 to 368.50 mg C · m^-2 · h^-1. Despite the fact that soil temperature (T_s), total biomass (TB) and their interaction (TB×T_s) could explain 89%, 88% and 90% of seasonal variation in soil respiration (R_s), respectively. The seasonal change in soil respiration was mainly controlled by the interaction of two factors, as suggested by a multiple stepwise regression model (ln(R_s) = 3.248+3.05×10^-5×TB×T_s, R²=0.90, P<0.01). The annual flux from soil respiration in the turfgrass amounted to 1684 g C · m^-2 · a^-1, which are higher than other ecosystems in the same climate zone of similar amounts of precipitation. This extremely high value might be caused by human managements, such as irrigation and fertilization in turfgrass. Clipping had no significant effect on soil respiration, soil temperature and soil moisture in late spring. The variations of soil respiration in both clipped plots and un-clipped plots were mainly controlled by soil temperature. In not-raining days of late autumn, soil respiration increased significantly at the first 2 days after irrigation, indicating the effects of increased soil humidity on soil respiration. Multiple stepwise regression showed that soil respiration in irrigation plots was controlled by both soil moisture (W₁₂) and soil temperature after irrigation (ln(R_s) = 3.505+0.003×T_s×W₁₂, R²=0.93, P<0.01 ), but in non-irrigated plots, the rate was only affected by soil temperature (ln(R_s) = 2.715+0.103×T_s, R²=0.82, P<0.01). From the results of this study, we found that the turfgrass ecosystem exhibit a relative high value of soil respiration than other ecosystems in subtropics of China and irrigation played an important role in soil respiration in relatievely dry months. Our study was a preparatory step of C cycling research on turfgrass ecosystem. For a comprehensive assessment of C budget of this artificial ecosystem, further investigations on particulate C fluxes, such as gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, heterotrophic respiration and net ecosystem production, are needed, as well as the long-term effect of human management on these fluxes.