News
Moganshan news: what changed, and when
What is changing in Moganshan (莫干山) and in China's entry rules, logged newest first. Every entry carries its Chinese source with a date and a tier, and ends with one line on what it means for a visitor. The mountain is in Deqing County, Huzhou, Zhejiang, 60 km from Hangzhou and 200 to 240 km from Shanghai. Search for Moganshan news and Shanghai results come first; those belong to Moganshan Road, the gallery street in Putuo District, and none of it appears here.
News here is narrow: something changed, and the change carries a date. A restated press release does not qualify. The longer pieces are in the journal.
Deqing publishes its holiday programme, with a street festival at Yucun
The county's programme for the two holidays appeared on 24 September. Closest to the mountain are a street festival at Yucun and chestnut picking at guesthouses. Prices and hours are not given.
For a visitor: If you are staying at Moganshan over either holiday, the Yucun festival evenings are the nearest thing on the programme, and chestnut picking is worth asking your host about before you arrive.
- Weekly dispatch
Moganshan dispatch, week 39
Week 39, 2026
The Hangzhou to Deqing railway has its wayfinding signs up and its station shopping centre opening this week, but no published opening date. Two new places to stop have opened in a Moganshan village.
For a visitor: Nothing this week changes a trip you have already booked. If you are planning National Day, no Golden Week programme for Moganshan has been published with a week to go, and the Hangzhou to Deqing railway still has no opening date, so plan on arriving at Deqing station exactly as you would have done in the spring.
Moganshan's 1910 swimming pool reopens as a café on trial
The pool and the building beside it had been sealed up for years. Both are open again, with coffee and kiln baked bread served at the water's edge, and no published hours or prices yet.
For a visitor: If you are already paying to enter the scenic area there is now somewhere to sit at the top, but the hours are not published, the prices are not published, and a trial opening can close again without notice.
Osmanthus is in flower on Moganshan, weeks ahead of the valley
More than seven hundred trees are opening across the mountain, and the main flush runs for weeks rather than one weekend. The mountain is ahead of the valley because it is colder.
For a visitor: If the scent is what you are coming for, you have weeks rather than a single weekend, and the two places the county paper names are both inside the ticketed scenic area.
Chestnut picking in the Moganshan villages runs to about 15 October
Deqing News reported on 17 September that the chestnut groves around Gaofeng village have come into season and that picking should hold until about 15 October, which covers both the Mid-Autumn and the National Day holidays.
For a visitor: If you are on the mountain between now and the middle of October, chestnut picking is a cheap half day that needs no scenic area ticket. The same weeks are the busiest of the autumn, so book a guesthouse table rather than turning up for lunch.
A quarry at the Kaiyuan Senbo resort is due to start trial running in October
Deqing News reported on 16 September that the Interstellar Mine Pit, built inside a disused quarry at the Kaiyuan Senbo resort, is under construction and is expected to start trial running in October. The resort is near Xiazhu Lake, not on Moganshan itself.
For a visitor: Nothing is bookable and no opening day has been published, so do not build an October trip around it. If you are already booked into the resort with children, ask at the desk whether the pit is running before you pay for anything extra.
- Weekly dispatch
Moganshan dispatch, week 38
Week 38, 2026
Nothing on the mountain itself changed this week. Three sites were finished or opened nearby, a conference the county will not date yet is close, and the tourism enforcement team published the one thing worth acting on now.
For a visitor: Nothing changed this week that alters a trip you have already booked. The one item to act on is the enforcement case: if you pay a Chinese travel agency, pay into its company account rather than a personal WeChat, and ask to see the travel agency licence as well as the business licence.
Kailas Moganshan Skyrace is set for 23 to 25 October, with registration closed
The organiser of the Kailas Moganshan Skyrace lists the 2026 event for 23 to 25 October. Its entry page covers distances from 10 km to 100 km and now marks registration as closed.
For a visitor: A visitor can no longer enter through the organiser's page, and anyone booking the same weekend should allow for a large trail event before choosing a village or transport plan.
Registration opens for a 22.65 km Moganshan trail race on 6 October
Registration is open for the UTO Moganshan trail training race on 6 October 2026. The single 22.65 km course starts from Yucun Square at 07:30, with an early rate available until 10:00 on 15 September.
For a visitor: A visitor who wants to run can enter now and save RMB 40 before the early rate ends, while other visitors should expect Yucun Square to be busy early on 6 October.
Deqing puts FIBA 3x3 World Tour tickets on sale for 26 and 27 September
Tickets are now on sale for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour stop in Deqing on 26 and 27 September 2026. The county says a ticket stub will also unlock offers at four visitor areas, including the Moganshan resort.
For a visitor: A visitor can now book the tournament and use the same ticket stub for local offers, but should check the booking channel for the exact benefits before planning around them.
Three OR cafés open across Moganshan town this month
A café brand called OR opens three sites in Moganshan town in September 2026, on Tianquan Mountain, in Nanlu village and in the Mogan Yujie shopping street, Deqing News reported on 4 September. All three serve coffee and western food, and the founders' second branch is going to Shanghai.
For a visitor: A visitor staying in the villages gets somewhere to sit with a coffee that is not the guesthouse, at three points on the mountain. Check the shops are trading before walking up to the Tianquan site, which is the one with no street around it.
A Spartan obstacle base opens on the old Discovery park site in October
The Spartan Moganshan warrior base is under construction on the site of the former Discovery adventure park and is due to open to the public in October 2026, Deqing News reported on 3 September. The Spartan Race and its children's race return to the resort in November.
For a visitor: Nothing is bookable yet, and a visitor should not plan an October trip around it until a date and a ticket page appear. The November race weekend is the one to plan around: last year it brought more than 4,000 participants, and rooms near the resort will be tight.
The Hangzhou to Deqing rail line begins trial running, opening due by the end of 2026
Trains started running without passengers on the Hangzhou to Deqing line on 2 September 2026. When it opens, due by the end of the year, it will run through onto Hangzhou Metro Line 10, and Deqing high speed rail station will be about 40 minutes from central Hangzhou with no change of train.
For a visitor: Nothing changes for a trip this autumn. From the opening, a visitor in Hangzhou will reach Deqing station by metro, tap in and out, no ticket to book, and the last leg from the station to the mountain stays as it is.
Canada and the United Kingdom go visa free, and the list reaches 50
On 17 February 2026 China added Canada and the United Kingdom to its unilateral visa free list, taking it to 50 countries. Holders of both passports now enter for 30 days with no application and no fee.
For a visitor: With a British or Canadian passport, the trip needs a ticket and nothing else. American passports are not on the list at any date and take the 240 hour transit route instead.
Four Seasons announces a 90 key Moganshan resort for 2030
Four Seasons announced a 90 key resort at Moganshan on 12 September 2025. The site is 23 hectares at Yu Village and the opening year is 2030, which means nothing is bookable and the date will move.
For a visitor: Nothing is bookable. 2030 is four years out, no construction has started, and dates that far ahead move, so a visitor plans around the hotels that exist today.
Trip.com takes control of a 28 property Moganshan group
Trip.com acquired 67.04 percent of Dalezhiye in March 2025, a group of 28 Moganshan properties with 556 rooms averaging about RMB 1,300 a night. The platform that sells rooms here now owns some of them.
For a visitor: More of what you book may belong to one company. At about RMB 1,300 a night those rooms sit near the top of this market, where the high end line is RMB 1,500.
A new high speed line opens, though not to your station
The Shanghai to Suzhou to Huzhou high speed line opened on 26 December 2024 and puts Huzhou 55 minutes from Shanghai Hongqiao. It did not change the trip most Moganshan visitors take, which still runs to Deqing.
For a visitor: Probably not your train. Book Deqing on the Nanjing to Hangzhou line, 63 to 80 minutes from Hongqiao; Huzhou station is farther from the mountain than Deqing is.
240 hour transit replaces the 72 and 144 hour rules
On 17 December 2024 China replaced its 72 hour and 144 hour transit schemes with a single 240 hour rule for 55 nationalities, the United States among them. Shanghai and Zhejiang are both covered, so the Moganshan trip stays inside it.
For a visitor: On a US passport this is the route in, short of a visa. Shanghai and Zhejiang are both covered, so Shanghai to Hangzhou to Moganshan stays inside the scheme, provided you hold a confirmed onward ticket to a third country.
The visa free stay doubles to 30 days
In November 2024 the stay allowed under China's unilateral visa free scheme doubled from 15 days to 30, for every country on the list. Two nights on the mountain no longer cost two nights in Shanghai.
For a visitor: Two nights out here used to cost you two nights in Shanghai. On a 30 day stay that trade is gone, and a visitor can add Moganshan to a China trip without dropping something else.
Hotels may not turn foreign guests away, though refusals continue
A joint directive of 24 May 2024 from three ministries bars hotels from refusing foreign guests for lack of a licence. Refusals are still reported, and on a mountain that runs on small family guesthouses the directive has not settled it on the ground.
For a visitor: Ask before you pay, and get it in writing. This mountain runs on minsu (民宿), small family run guesthouses, so put the question to the property rather than assuming the directive reached it.