Mountain Escape
For more than a century, Moganshan has offered summer-time relief for Shanghai expats looking to beat the city heat. As the weather heats up in 2014, an escape to a French- inspired manse in the middle of a bamboo forest may be exactly what the doctor orders.
It’s difficult to describe the hold Moganshan has on foreigners living in its vicinity. After visiting almost every summer for the seven years I’ve been living in Shanghai, Chinese friends often ask me what it is about the mountain that laowai seem to like so much?
The first thing it has going for it is its proximity to Shanghai (a mere 200 kilometres, or a three to four hour drive), while at the same time its feeling of being a world away from the energy sucking city and its relentless pull.
Though more and more domestic tourists from Hangzhou, Shanghai and the rest of China are discovering the delights of Moganshan, it’s still thought of as being particularly popular with foreigners – and not without reason.
The village of Moganshan was actually established by foreigners in the late 19th century, where a population of 300 eventually built summer homes by 1910. Back then, as it is today, very few foreigners lived on the mountain full-time, though there are some who make their lives on the mountain.
Christophe Peres and his wife, Pauline Lee, along with their three sons and two dogs, are one such family. Since stumbling across the site on a mountain hike, nine years ago, the couple has invested blood, sweat, tears and more than a little cash into creating a little slice of the French countryside, neatly deposited in the middle of a bamboo forest, surrounded by a working tea plantation – on a mountain in China. As you do!
The fruit of their labours is Le Passage Mohkan Shan. The rustic chandeliers, leather furnishings and dark woodwork, sit comfortable alongside floral floor tiles and dove grey walls. Splashes of old world Chinoiserie are also at hand, with antique Chinese porcelain and screens added in small tasteful numbers for good measure.
A trip to Moganshan, whether for a weekend or an extended break, can be as active, or as quiet as you like. Grab a mountain bike and speed your way among thick stalks of bamboo on winding mountain roads, or hike to the top of the hill, pausing for breath, or perhaps to pick some wildflowers, along the way.
If lying by a swimming pool with a good book is more your speed, then that’s also doable, though swimming might be a struggle after the plentiful helpings offered at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
One of the most special aspects of Le Passage is the ways in which the place has been deigned to maximise privacy. From our room, with a 180-degree view of the tea plantation and gravel driveway leading to the hotel, we spot nary another tourist, until they come out of the woodwork at dinner in the bistro-style dining room.
Similarly, in the sitting rooms, library and games rooms surrounding the central courtyard and pool area, another guest could be sitting only a few feet away, enjoying their own trashy celebrity magazine, and you would be hard- pressed to even notice they were there, with the layout of shared spaces emphasising personal nooks and crannies.
Even after all these years, Moganshan hasn’t lost its lustre, and with genuine luxury options now available, it’s only going to get more crowded with Shanghai’s well-to-do.
