News by topic
Moganshan news: visas and entry rules
Who can enter China without a visa, for how long, and under which scheme. The rules moved four times in two years and the current scheme has an end date.
- Weekly dispatch
Moganshan dispatch, week 45: rain for the Spartan Race weekend
Week 45, 2026
Rain is forecast for both days of the Spartan Race on 7 and 8 November. No visa free extension had been announced by Wednesday, the red maple season still has no date, and local winter shoots arrive this month.
For a visitor: If you can choose your days, walk on Friday: Saturday and Sunday are forecast wet, and the Spartan Race fills the resort on both.
- Weekly dispatch
Moganshan dispatch, week 44
Week 44, 2026
Thursday to Saturday are forecast dry and mild, and rain returns on Sunday. Spartan Race entries close at midnight on Saturday, and the county paper now reports the Skyrace field at 15,000 in its own words.
For a visitor: If you can choose your days, walk on Friday or Saturday: both are forecast dry, Sunday brings light rain, and Tuesday is wetter still.
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.
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 reply of 24 May 2024 from three national bodies tells hotels not to refuse foreign guests for lack of a licence. Refusals are still reported, and on a mountain that runs on small family guesthouses the reply 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 reply reached it.