The farmhouses where Moganshan’s foreign farmstay trade began are still on the hillside, but you cannot book them under their own name. In 2007 Grant Horsfield, a South African working in Shanghai, rented them in Sanjiuwu (三九坞). Sanjiuwu is a hamlet of Laoling (劳岭村), a Moganshan village on the south side. He called the place naked Home Village (裸心乡), and in 2017 the farmhouses were remade as part of naked Castle, a resort on the same slope. Laoling carries on as a village of guesthouses with no centre to speak of.
Laoling, Moganshan: what it is and where
Moganshan (莫干山) is a bamboo mountain and former hill station in Deqing County (德清县), Huzhou (湖州), Zhejiang, about 60 km north of Hangzhou and 200 to 240 km from Shanghai. It is not Moganshan Road in Shanghai, the M50 art district. The villages sit below the ridge, and Laoling is on the south side, reached through the Laoling tunnel (劳岭隧道).
Sanjiuwu is not a separate village, though some guides list it as one (our own villages page did until now). People’s Daily placed it in Laoling in 2017. Zhejiang Online’s reporters, coming in through the tunnel in 2016, found more than ten guesthouses in the part called Lingkengli (岭坑里) and put Sanjiuwu further into the hills.
Sanjiuwu in Laoling village, People’s Daily Online (人民网), carrying People’s Daily Overseas Edition, 7 July 2017, tier 2. http://travel.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0707/c41570-29389273.html
The tunnel, Lingkengli and Sanjiuwu beyond it, Zhejiang Online (浙江在线), 23 July 2016, tier 2. https://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/zjnews/hznews/201607/t20160723_1789530.shtml
By March 2016 Laoling had 45 guesthouses. They gave more than 200 jobs, the same report said, which was a seventh of the village’s people.
45 guesthouses and more than 200 jobs, Zhejiang Online (浙江在线), 23 July 2016, tier 2. https://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/zjnews/hznews/201607/t20160723_1789530.shtml
Sanjiuwu and the first yangjiale
Guangming Daily told the story in 2013. Horsfield went cycling in the summer of 2007, got lost and came down into Sanjiuwu. He rented several empty farmhouses and did them up himself, with tables made from tree stumps, no air conditioning, no gas and a wood stove for winter. The rooms had names such as Ziling Residence (紫岭居) and Green Bamboo Cottage (翠竹小筑).
The 2007 summer visit, the farmhouses, the room names and the furnishings, Guangming Daily (光明日报), 21 February 2013, tier 2. https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2013-02/21/nw.D110000gmrb_20130221_1-16.htm
The county gave the idea a name in 2009: yangjiale (洋家乐), a farmstay in foreign hands. That makes Sanjiuwu the birthplace of the foreign run farmstay, not of the Moganshan guesthouse. Zhejiang Online calls Yiyuan (颐园), opened in 2002, the first guesthouse in the modern sense.
Deqing County names the yangjiale in 2009, Zhejiang Online (浙江在线), 23 July 2016, tier 2. https://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/zjnews/hznews/201607/t20160723_1789530.shtml
The numbers are less settled than the story.
| Account | What it says about naked Home Village |
|---|---|
| Zhejiang Online, 2018 | 21 rooms; rent of RMB 10,000 a year; RMB 5 million spent; about RMB 1,000 a night |
| Jiemian, 2024 | About 20 rooms, in eight mud brick farmhouses |
| Tide News, 2023 | Six houses, made into a bar and an inn |
| Guangming Daily, 2013 | “Several” abandoned farmhouses |
Rooms, rent, cost, rate, the castle and Yiyuan, Zhejiang Online (浙江在线), 30 October 2018, tier 2. https://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/zjnews/zjxw/201810/t20181030_8611894.shtml
About 20 rooms in eight mud brick farmhouses, Jiemian (界面新闻), carrying Metime (空间秘探), 3 April 2024, tier 2. https://www.jiemian.com/article/11000849.html
Six houses, a bar and an inn, Tide News (潮新闻), 24 February 2023, tier 2. https://tidenews.com.cn/news.html?id=2374544
Tide News also calls the result naked Stables, which is a later and much larger resort. Xinhua, writing in 2025, put the first yangjiale at Laoling “20 years ago”. Every dated account we found says 2007, so this page does too. Xinhua’s account adds that the washbasins were old water jars cut in half, and that the place paid for itself in about a month.
The water jar basins and the first month, Xinhua (新华网), 19 March 2025, tier 2. http://www.news.cn/local/20250319/6f3d6119568c45df9f68e7585d6a97c8/c.html
Two other names often told with the Sanjiuwu story are not in Laoling at all.
| Year | What happened | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | naked Home Village opens | Sanjiuwu, Laoling |
| 2008 | A Frenchman rents an old tea factory and opens Le Passage (法国山居) | Ziling (紫岭村), west of Sanjiuwu |
| 2009 | Horsfield chooses a site for naked Stables (裸心谷) | Lanshukeng (兰树坑), near Sanjiuwu |
| 2011 | naked Stables opens, for about RMB 200 million | Lanshukeng |
| 2017 | naked Castle opens after four years and more than RMB 300 million, joining an old castle villa and the naked Home Village farmhouses | Sanjiuwu, Laoling |
Ziling, the tea factory and Lanshukeng, Guangming Daily (光明日报), 21 February 2013, tier 2. https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2013-02/21/nw.D110000gmrb_20130221_1-16.htm
The 2011 and 2017 openings, their cost, and the old site now part of the castle, Zhejiang Online (浙江在线), 30 October 2018, tier 2. https://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/zjnews/zjxw/201810/t20181030_8611894.shtml
Jiemian dates three eras from that first rental: the yangjiale from 2007, boutique guesthouses from about 2015, and chain hotel brands from 2024. The second opening tells the longer story.
The three eras, Jiemian (界面新闻), 20 May 2026, tier 2. https://www.jiemian.com/article/14453891.html
What costs nothing in Laoling
Nothing we read prints an entry charge for the village.
The free things are outdoors. The best known is the metasequoia avenue (水杉大道), the line of tall trees the county paper uses as a landmark in the village. A 2023 post on The Paper’s platform added the reservoir and the rice fields beside it, and said the flat lanes suit cycling and an early run.
The avenue as a landmark, Deqing News (德清新闻网), 17 October 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/10/17/035312925.shtml
The avenue, the reservoir and the rice fields, The Paper (澎湃新闻), a 澎湃号 media account, 28 September 2023, tier 3. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24783701
The Laoling reservoir (劳岭水库) was also a stop on a weekend shuttle in 2025. The Spartan (斯巴达号) line ran from the transfer centre past the reservoir, naked Stables and Ziling to Jiangnan Yaowu, 08:00 to 16:20, for RMB 5, on weekends and holidays from May to October. We found no 2026 timetable.
The Spartan line, its stops, hours and fare, Deqing News (德清新闻网), 24 June 2025, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2025/06/24/034991600.shtml
Eating in Laoling
No dated source we found names a restaurant in the village. Most people eat where they sleep: of the 62 Laoling listings we hold, 56 list a restaurant.
Facilities on 62 captured Trip.com listings with a Laoling address, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, captured 8 August 2026, compiled 21 October 2026.
Two places made the county paper in October 2026. Chashanli (茶杉里), near the metasequoia avenue, is a tea and coffee house on a tea farm whose 200 mu (13 hectares) of bushes date from the 1950s and 1960s. The owner, a recognised maker of Mogan Huangya (莫干黄芽) tea, lets customers pick leaf and fire it; our news desk reported it on 19 October. Luhe Village (麓禾村), a converted fruit picking farm of about 200 mu, has kayaks and karts, and room to camp. Neither report gives hours or prices.
Chashanli, the tea farm and its opening, Deqing News (德清新闻网), 17 October 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/10/17/035312925.shtml
Luhe Village, Deqing News (德清新闻网), 17 October 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/10/17/035312915.shtml
When you book, ask whether the house cooks dinner, and what time it stops.
Staying in Laoling
Of the 809 Moganshan listings we captured from Trip.com in August 2026, 62 give a Laoling address.
| Part of the village, as listed | Listings |
|---|---|
| Lingkengli (岭坑里) | 18 |
| Laolingjiao (劳岭脚) | 9 |
| Yatanwu (鸭潭坞) | 8 |
| Longli (龙里) | 6 |
| By the Laoling tunnel | 4 |
| Wulongshan (乌龙山) | 2 |
| Sanjiuwu (三九坞) | 1 |
| A number, a road, or the village name only | 14 |
Listing addresses, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, captured 8 August 2026, compiled 21 October 2026; Chinese names checked against Ctrip’s Chinese addresses, read 21 October 2026.
Sanjiuwu’s one listing is naked Castle. A short list follows, chosen for what the record says about each. We rank and rate none of them and print no room rates; each link opens the live listing with the rate for your dates.
| Listing | Address as listed | Why it is here |
|---|---|---|
| naked Castle Resort | No. 12 Sanjiuwu | Built around the naked Home Village farmhouses |
| Cipo Laoling Liangshi Homestay | The Gaonan road, by Yiyuan Organic Farm | Xipo (西坡), the guesthouse brand Xinhua named at Laoling in 2025 |
| Faraway Mountain | No. 13 Lingkengli | The most reviewed listing in Lingkengli: 336 reviews |
| Sunsee Inn | No. 4 Yatanwu | The most reviewed listing in Yatanwu: 177 reviews |
| Dongkou Shanju Hotel | The mouth of the Laoling tunnel | Listed at the tunnel the 2016 report passes through |
Xipo among the brands at Laoling, Xinhua (新华网), 19 March 2025, tier 2. http://www.news.cn/local/20250319/6f3d6119568c45df9f68e7585d6a97c8/c.html
Review counts on the captured listings, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, captured 8 August 2026.
Eight Laoling listings put “hot spring” in their name, and three list hot springs among their facilities. Hot springs on Moganshan explains why we read that as a heated private bath. Most of the rest are minsu (民宿), small family guesthouses. Trip.com keeps no list for Laoling alone, so the long tail is in its list for the whole Moganshan resort.
The walk from Laoling to Ziling
This is a desk route; nobody on this desk has walked it.
GreenTour Asia (绿色旅行网) lists the Laoling to Ziling old path (劳岭紫岭古道) as 3.5 km. It starts from the Yucun side on stone paving, passes the Laoling reservoir and about 100 mu of tea, and ends in Ziling village, where Le Passage began in 2008. The guide calls the gradient gentle and the walk free.
The route, its length, surface and gradient, GreenTour Asia (绿色旅行网), updated 3 July 2026, tier 3. https://www.greentourasia.com/article/moganshantubugonglve
We found no measured climb and no official waymarking for it.
Who should base in Laoling
People with a car who want a pool and do not need a street outside the door: 28 of the 62 listings have an outdoor pool.
If you want to sleep where the guesthouse trade began, it has to be the castle: it is the only listing in Sanjiuwu.
Cyclists and early runners will like the flat lanes by the reservoir.
It does not suit a first visit without a car, or anyone who wants a choice of dinner. Yucun has the restaurants and a transfer centre.
The honest downside
The thing the village is famous for has gone inside a resort. You can drive to Sanjiuwu, but naked Home Village is now part of naked Castle, and its farmhouses are seen as a guest there or not at all.
The rest is distance. Laoling has no square and no high street. Nor is it one of the three transfer centres the county has named since 2019, which are Yucun, Fatou and Houwu.
The three transfer centres, Deqing News (德清新闻网), 30 September 2019, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2019/09/30/031939856.shtml
The 2025 shuttle ran on weekends only, and no 2026 timetable had appeared by 21 October 2026. Without a car, every meal out and every trip to the scenic area gate is a taxi or a lift the guesthouse arranges.
The villages below Moganshan sets out the alternatives.
Last checked 22 October 2026 by Echo Peng. Prices, timetables and entry rules on this mountain move without notice, so confirm anything you are booking around.
Photographs on this site are representative illustrations, not documentary images of the specific building, property or service described.
