The true pleasures of Moganshan lie under the peaceful canopy of the bamboo forest. Don't be surprised to see iridescent caterpillars, giant beetles and multicoloured butterflies in the groves. Pass by quaint villas and hike far down into the valley to Sword Pond Waterfall where you'll find vendors selling knick-knacks, ice cream and cold drinks.
A 90-minute drive from Hangzhou, the richly green hills of Moganshan, in Zhejiang province, have been a place of rest and reinvigoration for the past century, far from the madding crowds.
Near the top of one climb you'll pass European-style stone villas with gardens. Though this pastiche may seem a little incongruous in rural China, even by today's standards, it must have been remarkable a century ago when visitors were carried up in sedan chairs.
Nowadays, according to Mark Kitto, the mountain's only full-time foreign resident for more than 50 years, there's not a lot of mention of the expats who put Moganshan on the map by creating this elevated playground in the clouds. That's played down in favour of it having been used as a retreat by Chiang Kai-shek on several occasions and Mao Zedong in 1954.
Kitto, a Welshman, moved here with his Chinese wife and two children after a stint in Shanghai, opting for a slow pace of life. He opened The Lodge, the only European-style hotel here.
It was also the desire for somnolence that first led to Moganshan's development as a summer retreat in the 1880s. The story goes that, having heard of the refreshingly cool and tranquil environs from missionaries, a group of enterprising Shanghai expats bought the top section of the mountain from local landowners for a few dollars. Their intent was to establish a hill station retreat for the westerners in Shanghai, who until then had to escape to far-flung Kuling, now Lushan, to seek relief from summer's swelter.