Moganshan: China's Mountain Retreat with a Little European Charm For the second part of our 19th century laowai tour, we head south, half way down China’s eastern coast to the mountains of Zhejiang, not too far from Melanie and I’s environs of Hangzhou and Shanghai. While China has some of the world’s tallest mountains, Zhejiang’s mountains are of a more gentle variety, more like the United States’ Appalachian Mountains. Much of Zhejiang is covered with rolling hills cloaked in bamboo forests (well, the parts not covered with factories), and Moganshan is the region’s most famous mountain retreat. With cool temperatures, idyllic bamboo forests, and terraced tea fields, Moganshan is the perfect escape from the region’s bustling cities and factories. To the left, some tea fields on the slopes of Moganshan. Typical for China, even a quiet rural community like Moganshan has a history going back more than 2,500 years! The region’s name, literally Mount Mogan, comes from a mythical sword maker and his wife who lived in the region during China’s Spring and Autumn period. From these ancient origins, Moganshan remained a quiet mountain community over the centuries, and it was only in the 1800s that the region’s serenity was first noticed by laowai from nearby Shanghai. Then, as now, Shanghai was in a headlong race into the future, growing by leaps and bounds as it became the financial center of Asia, and the era’s laowai were just as desperate as today’s for a retreat from the constant bustle of business. Moganshan’s peace, quiet, and cool bamboo forests seemed the perfect antidote, and the region’s locals soon found 19th century laowai seeking to rent rooms for a few weeks of rest! Yet the 19th century laowai were nothing if not entrepreneurial, and it didn’t take long for a group of English and Americans to recognize the potential of Moganshan to become the region’s resort of choice, the Martha’s Vineyard of Zhejiang so to speak. They bought the entire mountain for $50, and it was soon covered with villas, churches, and public halls catering to Shanghai’s laowai. During Shanghai’s hot summer months, hundreds of laowai flocked to Moganshan to relax in the mountain’s cool temperatures. For the 19th century laowai, Moganshan was synonymous with luxury and relaxation. To the left, a Moganshan church built during this era. Much like Harbin though, Moganshan’s brief cosmopolitan turn was brought to a halt by the turmoil of China’s 20th century. After decades of conflict, most of the region’s laowai had fled by the end of the 1940s. Moganshan would retain its allure for a time. Both Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Zedong vacationed at Moganshan (separately), but the region’s villas would be abandoned during the Cultural Revolution and languish unused for decades thereafter. To the left, remnants of an abandoned villa. Interestingly, it was again laowai who helped to revitalize the retreats and villas of Moganshan in the 1990s. A British citizen, who has lived in China for nearly twenty years, bought one of Moganshan’s abandoned villas and turned it into a hotel and restaurant.* Today’s Shanghai locals, laowai and Chinese alike, are just as desperate for a retreat from Shanghai’s summers as in the 19th century, and his new business was soon booming. Numerous hotels and restaurants have since opened, and Moganshan is now booming as never before. To the left, a renovated villa now serving as a hotel. Moganshan today represents some of the best and worst of contemporary China. On the plus side, Moganshan retains its natural beauty and stands as a reminder that China is so much more than just cities and factories. And though laowai continue to play a prominent role here, Moganshan is no longer a retreat exclusively for laowai. Instead, it’s a place enjoyed by Chinese and laowai alike. Indeed, the lodge Melanie and I stayed at was run in partnership between South Africans and a local village, with all parties sharing in the profits alike. On the negative side, though Moganshan is prospering, tourism can be a blessing and a curse in China, as everywhere. Moganshan’s mountain top is increasingly congested with hotels, restaurants, and tour groups that send a shiver through souls seeking a peaceful escape. Luckily, the many trails and forests on Moganshan’s slopes remain idyllic and peaceful, and Melanie and I felt well-rested after our stay here! *He has written a book about his experiences in China and Moganshan, which you can find at amazon. His story is quite interesting and includes a turn as one of China’s media barons before retreating to Moganshan.
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AuthorTwo free spirits who happen to be a lawyer (Brian), an educator (Melanie), and Americans find themselves in China in the twenty-first century. Archives
February 2016
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