With villa renting for US$29,000 a weekend, no wonder Moganshan is talked of as the Hamptons of China
A forested summer retreat for wealthy Shanghainese since the 1920s, Moganshan has gained a new lease of life as a luxury getaway, epitomised by VVIP destination La Residence, opened by a Hongkonger and a Frenchman
There’s nowhere else like it in China – an eight-bedroom villa with no road access that rents for 198,000 yuan (HK$223,000, US$28,700) per weekend in the high season. So says Frenchman Christophe Peres, co-owner with his wife, Pauline Lee, a Hongkonger, of the hilltop La Residence in Moganshan, a leafy retreat east of Shanghai that’s set on becoming the Hamptons of China.
“There are eight double bedrooms, nine-metre ceilings, a private pool and a private kitchen that comes with a chef and a wine cellar,” says Peres as he guides us around the recently opened, 1,300-metre property set amid a tea plantation and with a 360-degree view of the surrounding bamboo forest.
“It’s unique in China, not just because of the price but also because there’s no proper road access… You have to walk up that small path of steps,” he says, gesturing to a walkway below the house. “We wanted to keep it private and not destroy the tea plantation,” he adds.
The couple built the house as their holiday home following the conversion of their first family retreat nearby into a hotel, Le Passage Mohkan Shan, when the local government approached them with plans to redevelop the area as a tourist destination.
“We have three boys so we needed a getaway for weekends and we found this beautiful tea plantation in Moganshan,” Peres recalls of their initial decision to build in Moganshan in 2007.