Moganshan dispatch, week 38

A country park is due to open at Fatou in October

The old street at Fatou (筏头老街), the settlement that gives the Fatou transfer centre its name, has been rebuilt as Mogan Lake Country Park (莫干湖郊野公园). Deqing News reported on 16 September that the civil works are finished and that the buildings, a cycling station, a ruins garden and an ecology exhibition hall, are in their final stage. The site covers about 48,000 square metres and the county expects it to open in October. It sits inside a drinking water protection zone, which is why the old street became a park rather than anything with beds in it.

What this means for a visitor: from October there should be a free public park with paths and viewpoints beside a transfer centre that has until now been somewhere to leave a car and wait for a bus.

Source: 德清新闻网 (Deqing News), 16 September 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/09/16/035293107.shtml

A farm park at Laoling is open, and also not open

A site of about 200 mu at Laoling (劳岭村), roughly 13 hectares, has become Luhe Village (麓禾村), built out of an existing fruit picking farm by a young team from Hangzhou. Deqing News listed a pedal train, off road karting, kayaks, catering, camping, farm work sessions and eight themed courtyards. The same report says in its first line that the park has formally opened to the public and then quotes the operator saying it has not formally opened for business, so treat it as trading but unfinished. She expects 100,000 visitors a year once it is running, and said the team is planning around the Hangzhou to Deqing rail line, which began trial running on 2 September.

What this means for a visitor: Laoling sits on the road to the western guesthouse villages and on one of the two themed bus lines, so a family half day now exists there that did not in the spring. Ring ahead before you build a day around it.

Source: 德清新闻网 (Deqing News), 15 September 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/09/15/035292417.shtml

The ninth Moganshan Conference is in its final run up

The task force preparing the ninth Moganshan Conference (莫干山会议) met on 14 September and was told that preparation has entered its sprint stage. The conference descends from the 1984 meeting that put the mountain into Chinese economic history. The report named the officials in the room and gave no date, no venue and no programme.

What this means for a visitor: when the date does land, beds across the county tighten for several days around it. If your trip falls in late September or October, book the room before the announcement rather than after.

Source: 德清新闻网 (Deqing News), 15 September 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/09/15/035292416.shtml

A restored walk at Jichoushan is finished, away from the mountain

At Shangyang (上杨村), in Xiazhuhu (下渚湖) rather than on Moganshan, the main works are done on a walking route around Jichoushan (计筹山). Deqing News put it at 520 metres of restored old path and more than 400 metres of new connecting path, about one kilometre in all, for more than RMB 2 million. It links a Yuan dynasty cliff inscription cut by Zhao Mengfu, the Baishi Dongtian site associated with the Song poet Jiang Kui, a Taoist hall and a flat stone long used as a chessboard.

What this means for a visitor: about a kilometre of restored path, with a signed entrance, for anyone who has already done the walking on Moganshan and wants somewhere with fewer people on it. No opening date was given.

Source: 德清新闻网 (Deqing News), 16 September 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/09/16/035293105.shtml

The county recovered RMB 61,000 from an agency that stopped answering

The enforcement team at the county culture, radio, television, tourism and sport bureau has recovered RMB 61,000 of the more than RMB 80,000 taken by a travel agency that went quiet. Deqing News reported on 16 September that the company registered in January, ran a few tours, then deregistered in March. More than 60 customers, most of them elderly, had paid by personal WeChat transfer rather than into a company account, and the agency’s mandatory service quality deposit could not be used to cover them.

What this means for a visitor: if you book anything through a Chinese agency, pay into the company account, ask to see the travel agency operating licence as well as the business licence, and keep the written contract. A personal transfer leaves almost nothing to recover.

Source: 德清新闻网 (Deqing News), 16 September 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/09/16/035293108.shtml

Last checked 17 September 2026 by Cyril Drouin. Prices, timetables and entry rules on this mountain move without notice, so confirm anything you are booking around.