China’s forest resort allures global B&B investors

Some B&B facilities in Mogan Mountain Photo: Xie Shangguo

Mogan Mountain, located in East China's Zhejiang Province, is less than three hours' drive from Shanghai, China's largest city. In 2007, when Grant Horsfield came to Mogan Mountain and saw the rolling "green sea" in front of him, he knew he had found the place.

Horsfield, a smart investor in the B&B industry, was born in a tourist resort in South Africa and has been a nature lover since he was a child. For many years, he has been looking for a treasure land with lush forests, clear springs, comfortable temperatures and inner peace. By chance, he came across Mogan Mountain during a cross-country ride. The name of the mountain comes from the greatest swordsmith couple in Chinese history. According to legend, it was in Mogan Mountain that the couple forged a pair of swords for the king. The male sword was named after the husband, called Gan Jiang, and the female sword was named after the wife, Mo Ye.

Horsfield and his wife quickly made a decision. They rented eight residential houses there and refurbished them without changing the structure and overall style of the houses. They gave this ideal resort a unique name - Naked Retreats, which means returning to nature, living a simple life; born naked, live naked. The idea of nakedness has struck a chord with consumers. Although rooms are expensive with the price reaching 1,000 yuan ($137) per night, the rooms are often fully booked.

In 2017, the Naked Village was upgraded to Naked Castle. Horsfield also leased an ancient castle on the top of Mogan Mountain and spent more than 300 million yuan in building the largest re-sort project in Mogan Mountain so far.

"This weekend, all the rooms in Naked Castle are booked!" said Marco Militzer from Germany who is the regional general manager of the Naked resort. According to him, the lowest price for a night is nearly 2,000 yuan, and some rooms cost nearly 10,000 yuan. Yet this year's revenue has doubled compared with the same period in 2019.

Naked Castle's success has become a model project in Mogan Mountain. Investors from more than 10 countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, South Korea and Russia, followed Horsfield's footsteps and set up B&Bs in this area.

At the "Bamboo Shadow Mountain Residence," Bishal Thapa, a young man from Nepal, is busy cooking for the guests in the kitchen. "This summer, the booking rate of our rooms reaches 80 percent," Thapa said. He is a silver medalist in men's team paragliding at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and  well-known B&B owner in Mogan Mountain. In 2020, he and his wife settled in Mogan Mountain. They're learning Chinese while running their B&B. The Nepali meal is the biggest selling point of their B&B.

"This is very similar to the rural environment where I grew up, and the bamboo forest scenery looking over from the sky is also very beautiful," Thapa said. He believes that the villages at the foot of Mogan Mountain are lively and dynamic, and very suitable for young people.

ARCADIA is another famous B&B in Mogan Mountain. The founder, Ernest, is a ­Canadian. Once, a German couple came here on vacation. After staying in ARCADIA, they quickly decided to cancel their subsequent trips and stayed there for more than 10 days because "it felt amazing and they didn't want to travel elsewhere."

Steven, who has lived in Canada for many years, is one of the co-founders of ARCADIA. He said that many customers are Chinese college students studying abroad. "After living here with their parents, they feel like they have taken a short trip abroad. Coming here to relax has become a part of their lives."

Foreign tourists experience paddleboarding at Elephant & Moon Resort in Deqing county, Zhejiang Province. Photo: Xie Shangguo

In recent years, outdoor camping has become increasingly popular in China. Mogan Mountain is also drawing the attention of many major international outdoor brands.

In 2022, the well-known French outdoor brand Huttopia took a liking to the green mountains and waters here and contracted 27 hectares of mountain forests, and built China's first Huttopia holiday resort. "The cabins here are so beautiful, clean and safe. It's like sleeping in the forest, and you can see fireflies flying around at night," an Italian tourist said, noting more and more people are now interested in China's rural B&Bs and they take a trip to Mogan Mountain every summer.

In June this year, the century-­old Danish outdoor brand Nordisk (Big White Bear) also set foot in this place and the Mogan Mountain Big White Bear International Camp was officially launched. Tourists gathered in the bamboo forest, setting up exquisite tents, spreading table mats and napkins, chopping fire-wood, boiling water, and cooking until nightfall. Light a bonfire, have a long chat with friends, or simply stare at the stars in a daze. Late at night, people lie on a simple bed, sleeping peacefully with the silence and fresh air of the wild.

The arrival of a large number of international investors and tourists has made the local residents of Mogan Mountain the beneficiaries. Driven by the "International B&Bs," local residents also opened "local B&B," and their income increased significantly.

Shen Jiangrong, a local villager, originally ran a restaurant in the county. After seeing the popularity of "international B&B," he returned to his hometown in 2014 and opened a B&B in his own house.

Tourists visit the market in Moganshan town, Deqing county. Photo: Wang Shucheng

"When I returned home, the door of my house was overgrown with weeds and unimaginably dilapidated. At that time, almost all the young people in our village had left," Shen said. "I spent nine months renovating my B&B. The name 'Mo Fan' means a pure place without worries."

Today, there are more than 160 B&Bs in Shen's village, each with a different style. "Our guests are mainly from Jiangsu, Zhe­jiang and Shanghai, and foreign friends often come here. Since June, there have been constant calls for reservations, more than 20 a day," Shen said. He attributed the influx of tourists to Mogan Mountain's to the reputation of the "International B&B."

Data shows that "International Homestays" have created more than 6,000 jobs in Deqing county, where Mogan Mountain is located, and encouraged more than 3,000 young people to return hometown and start businesses. Today, there are nearly 900 homestays in Deqing, receiving more than 7 million tourists annually and generating a revenue of more than 3 billion yuan.

In Mogan Mountain, fantastic chemistry has been developed as the international lifestyle meets Chinese rural culture.