Abstract:With the rapid economic, scientific, and technological development, China's expressway network is increasingly improving. However, expressway networks can damage ecosystems, and generate a large number of high and steep slopes. Because these slopes can be dangerous, it is of great importance to restore them. The United States and other developed countries have a long history in ecological slope restoration, and currently, Japan is the world leader in the field of restoration techniques. In China, the efforts for ecological restoration are still behind other countries, although its ecological restoration techniques are developing, especially those for special geographical environments such as rock slopes. Compared with soil slopes, rock slopes are high, steep, and with relatively poor soil conditions. Furthermore, rock slopes are extremely unstable, which makes them difficult to recover. In China, numerous methodologies have been implemented to restore rock slopes. Currently, thick layer planting and eco-concrete technologies are widely used for restoration activities in China. However, these two methodologies are still imitated mechanically from other countries, and no particularly thorough, systematic, or comprehensive research is available. Thus, China's ecological restoration work is facing serious issues, especially in the cold region. Unlike other regions in China, the extremely low temperatures in the cold region hinder plant growth, because of diseases and the harsh environment. Many artificial slope plants used in this region have poor cold hardiness or stress resistance. This causes degradation of many artificial slopes, leading to a decrease in the vegetation cover, and death of native species even after a period of growth and reproduction.In the present study, the Arun Banner to Boketu expressway was chosen as the study area, in order to evaluate the restoration effects of thick layer planting and eco-concrete techniques. We also aimed to understand the successional stages, and determine the soil-plant relationships by analyzing the plant communities', Margalef index, Shannon-Weiner index, Pielou index, Jaccard index, and soil data. The results indicate that:1) the two techniques did not result in significantly different plant communities and similarity indices, although eco-concrete slope plant communities were closer to natural ones; 2) obvious differences were observed between the plant communities and similarity indices of shady and sunny slopes; 3) a specific increment in soil total nitrogen and organic matter content can promote the development of plant communities. In addition, an increase in soil available phosphorus content will inhibit this development; 4) Artemisia argyi, Artemisia integrifolia, Leymus chinensis, Stipa Baicalensis, Lespedeza daurica, Amorpha fruticosa, and Salix hsinganica are the most appropriate and effective species for use in this restoration work.Overall, this study can provide a basis for improving the application of both technologies in this region, to optimize species configuration, prevent secondary degradation problems, and provide a theoretical basis for future conservation and management measures.