I came to this forest because I wanted to live an introspective life, to face the most essential problems of life, to see if there was anything that life would teach me, and I didn't understand it, wondering if if I hadn't come here, when I was dying, I wouldn't be unaware of the life I hadn't experienced.
A homestay that uses this passage from Thoreau as the opening statement of self-introduction is the smartest advertisement I have ever seen. Because of this advertisement, I began to pay attention to the homestay, and began to track continuously in the gap between smog and smog, in the chaotic new millennium.
01.
Since 2014, the homestay ushered in the flashpoint, boutique homestays began to be hot in the country, some homestays even hot to the point of "800 oceans to see a glance", yes, is "800 yuan to see a glance", not yen, not 800 oceans to live a night, such a homestay should grow into what?
As a witness to the industrialization of homestays, I began to pay attention to these "hostels" with different personalities and styles.
Contemporary Asian homestays are from Taiwan. The largest radiation centers of mainland homestays are in the south, one is Yunnan in the southwest and the other is Zhejiang in the southeast. In addition, the suburbs of Xiamen and did not have a lot of radiation.
Starting from the familiar East China Homestay, East China Homestay, must be called Moganshan, and when talking about Moganshan, it will be naked valley. So, let's start with the Valley of the Naked Heart.
In 2007, a South African European working in Shanghai swung around the Yangtze River Delta. One day, this foreigner, who later became an iconic figure in the history of East China Homestay, came to a mountain forest on the south side of Taihu Lake. This mountain forest is located at the foot of Mogan Mountain. He traced up the deep and beautiful mountains and forests in Jiangnan, and finally rented 8 private houses for 5,000-7,000 yuan a room (1 room with 2 floors) in a remote and deep valley on the back of the Moganshan Mountain Scenic Area, with a lease period of 20 years, which became the iconic starting point of East China Boutique Homestay after transformation. The boutique homestay that began with 8 private houses became a hit, and the project continued to expand among the valleys, following the crowd, new creators and gold diggers gathered here, and spread from the first valley to the surrounding valleys, from Moganshan to Tianmu Mountain, Longmen Mountains... Moganshan Homestay has thus gained fame and has quickly become one of the most influential benchmarks for boutique homestays in China.
This ever-expanding project is called Naked Valley. To this day, it is still expanding. This foreigner's name is Gao Tiancheng.
With the popularity of Naked Valley, followers of different styles gathered in the valley.
In 2014, the first year of the homestay. Around this year, homestays across the country broke out rapidly, doubling the number every year, taking Hangzhou as an example, the number in 2010 was 210, most of which were naturally grown locally. That number has jumped to 1,500 in 2015 and 2,800 in 2016. Xiamen, on the other hand, grew from 13 in 2006 to 1,800 in 2015, a 140-fold increase in 9 years.
As a result, the melon-eating masses are not calm, whether they have the ability to create characteristics or not, and whether they have the ability to operate, the group rushes up. Those old houses and even broken houses that occupy a good "feng shui" in the radiation circle of big cities are temporarily expensive. For example, Hangzhou has risen from tens of thousands to 200,000 or 300,000. Moganshan's old houses have risen by about 5 times since 2007, a two-story small house with a total area of about 90 square meters, the lease period is mostly 20 years or 30 years, the daily rent per square meter in 2014 has approached 1 yuan, the annual rent is about 30,000, and many tenants choose to pay the rent of 600,000 or 900,000 yuan during the lease period in one lump sum. By 2015, the daily rent of new houses in Moganshan has jumped to 3 yuan per flat.....
Under the surface of the fiery cooking oil, let us return to the Naked Heart Valley of the "800 Ocean" and return to the Moganshan Mountain in Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Using this as a model, peel off the layers of coats of Naked Heart Valley and Moganshan Mountain.
02.
The Naked Heart Valley, which began in 2007, is the benchmark of East China Homestay, and emotionally, I prefer to use it as a kind of rural experiment to learn and reference. But in fact, it is closer to a project controlled by the business elite.
Whether it is the former or the latter, Naked Valley has promoted the progress of East China Boutique Homestays, which in turn has produced a national influence – this is hard to deny. Although, starting from Naked Heart Valley, this project has gradually broken through the margins of traditional homestays, as the largest radiation source of the homestay industry in East China, we cannot bypass it.
"800 oceans to take a look", but the business skills of naked valley, as a forerunner, naked valley fever can be "sold tickets" situation - as a casual customer, only pay 800 oceans, you can enter the gate of naked valley, but you can offset consumption inside, if you want to stay, these silver is not enough. In addition, the local travel agency with a keen sense of smell has really opened a tour project to visit the Naked Heart Valley, with 300 oceans and one ticket. Who has such a great energy to create such a legend in a valley that is flooded and flat?
So, let's first look at the team at Naked Valley:
Gao Tiancheng: South African, Founder of MBA, University of Cape Town Business School.
Lin Gangyang: An Australian, he has served as the director of the development department of PwC and real estate companies, and served as the chief operating officer.
Yip Kai Hin: A native of Hong Kong, he holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard and is the director of a design studio.
Lu Jiabao: A native of Macau, one of the founders.
Han Tianning: Dutchman, master of strategic management, as sales director, Unilever, Coca-Cola, etc. have successively become big customers of Naked Valley.
Obviously, this is an international elite team, I would like to ask, an ordinary homestay owner, how to copy? - Except for big capital. This is something that followers need to examine. Of course, as far as the valley where naked heart valley is located and its vicinity, you can enjoy the overflow of the customer base it has attracted.
03.
The urban radiation circle where Moganshan B&B is located
When I paid attention to the Moganshan Homestay, it was difficult to understand that such a huge impact could be formed on the homestay in the mountain pass of the ordinary county under the jurisdiction of Zhejiang Province, so I went deeper, explored the doubts that were confused in my heart, and found the inner vein.
In addition to the "luxurious" management team of Naked Heart Valley, another reason why Moganshan Homestay can become famous is its location. On the Taihu Plain, one of the most fertile plains south of the Yangtze River, there are cities such as Wuxi, Suzhou, Shanghai, Huzhou, Jiaxing, and Hangzhou. China's top 10 cities, there are three, and the top 100 counties are gathered. Moganshan is the closest mountain to these cities, and in terms of traffic, it is within a 2-hour traffic circle with these cities. This location is not replicable, and this location is not available anywhere in Zhejiang Province. In the whole country, it is estimated that there are only a few that can be matched.
For most people in Suzhou, Wuxi and Shanghai who live on the plains, mountains are a temptation.
The homestay in Moganshan absorbs the radiation of the strongest urban agglomeration in the Yangtze River Delta, and this condition is unique and unique. Therefore, the commercial success of Moganshan homestay is first of all because it is in the center of the urban agglomeration radiation, the success of the location, and the second is the success of design and operation.
Although Moganshan is located in Zhejiang, Moganshan Homestay adsorbs the high-end consumption power and leisure demand in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai regions of East China, and it is a banner erected in East China, so the industry influence of Moganshan Homestay is also higher than that of hangzhou homestay, the provincial capital.
The homestay of 2017, the whole country, is still a year of barbaric growth, but for the forerunners, there are hidden worries, one of the hidden dangers is: there is no sense of location - for the homestay at the end of the traffic, the probability of failure is double that of those who have considered "occupying" the homestay.
04.
History of Moganshan Homestay
The first to come to Moganshan before the South African Gao Tiancheng was the Englishman Mark Quito. Mark graduated from the University of London with Chinese majors and was a captain and a member of the Royal Guard of Honor at Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom. He studied Chinese poetry, married a Cantonese wife, Wu Ninghua (Joanna), and founded an English journal called "That's Shanghai", which became the most successful English publication in China at that time.
In 1999, Moganshan left an impression on Mark, who came here for the first time.
In 2003, at the age of 37, Mark rented two houses in Moganshan.
In 2004, due to the change of his career, the frustrated Mark lived in seclusion to Moganshan, chopping firewood, raising dogs, climbing mountains, and meditating on green mountains in Sanjiuwu Village..... And brewed a book about Moganshan. He found a 101-year-old English newspaper in China since 1850 in the Shanghai library, read a lot of reports about Moganshan, and wrote a book called "Cuckoo". This book about Moganshan was introduced to Europe and the United States, attracting the attention of the media in the United States, Germany and other places.
In 2006, Mark planned to make money on Moganshan. However, this Britishman does not open a homestay, but a café called LODGE. In 2007, Gao Tiancheng opened the first phase of the naked heart project (naked heart township) in Sanjiuwu Village, which has only 18 households, and the price positioning of the first phase of the project is not high, usually about 1,000 yuan on the weekend of 500. Subsequently, Mark also began to expand his business...
When we go back in the history of Moganshan Homestay, it is clear that Mark is a person who should not be ignored. Mark is not only the earliest foreign operator in Moganshan, but also an important cultural promoter of Moganshan Homestay. Although, the laurel crown of Moganshan Homestay was worn on Gao Tiancheng's head. And a pusher like Mark is something to consider in areas that are preparing to roll up their sleeves and make a big fuss at the homestay: Is there also a story like Moganshan? Historical support?
So, what kind of history did Mark find in a pile of old English newspapers with a history of 101 years, which made a large number of European and American tourists flock to the MoganShan? On the day of the in-depth investigation of Moganshan, two groups of foreigners were also encountered on a deserted mountain road. What attracted them? Why did the New York Times list Moganshan as one of the 45 most worthwhile places in the world?
Now it seems that in addition to the scenery, there are also historical echoes that attract foreigners. Moganshan - In the remnants of this Tianmu Mountain, there are the warm and residual dreams of Europe and the United States.
More than 100 years ago, in the 1890s, the gates of the country were opened, and the American Baptist missionary Folijia, who loved to travel, "discovered" Moganshan. His companions, priests Mayson and Dr. Horstrom Spuder, were tempted by him to come to moganshan and write a note and see it in the newspaper, opening up for the first time the West's perception of the "distant landscape" of Moganshan.
By 1895, missionaries were allowed to buy land and houses. The following year, the Americans Bai Ding and Evans successively built houses on MoganShan. In the autumn of the same year, Belle, an English merchant seduced by travelogues, began to build a villa on MoganShan in the name of the church, and in 1897, the villa was completed. In 1898, the British priest Hong Ci'en built a villa, and in the same year, the Moganshan Summer Club, which governed the nature, was established. In 1899, the American Han Mingde built a villa and a church. In 1902, as many as 300 or 400 foreigners went up to the mountains for summer vacations. 5 years later, in 1904, from this year on, Moganshan Villa ushered in the second wave of construction climax: the American Sabbath Church built 4 villas on the mountain, followed by 1 villa built on the upper hill in London, 3 villas in the British mainland, 1 villa built by the American women's union, and 1 villa built by the British Anglican Association Umeto in 1910.....
Since the construction of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway in 1909, foreigners have directly reached Hangzhou from Shanghai, and then traveled by water to the foot of Moganshan Mountain, hired caravans, and arrived at their paradise, Moganshan. At this time in Moganshan, tennis courts, open-air swimming pools, hotels, post offices, markets, tea houses, and hotels have been built... In the midst of convenient transportation and increasingly crowded Moganshan, the German Ann Paul began to sell his property.....
Modern China, for Europe and the United States, is full of "secret places", at the turn of the last century, Moganshan fans in Europe and the United States sat on a transoceanic cruise ship, not far away, across the sea, they docked in Shanghai, where they were drunk and gold fans, forming a ten-mile ocean field. But the foreigners who have been traveling for nearly a hundred years since the romantic trend of the 19th century are not satisfied with this, they go deep into this strange country, begin to find their paradise, and eventually, Moganshan has become the ideal secret place of Walden Lake in their hearts.
This is the predecessor of the contemporary East China homestay benchmark Moganshan Homestay in modern times.
In 1926, Zhang Jingjiang, the former "money bag" of Sun Yat-sen and the Nationalist government of Zhejiang Province, reclaimed the almost lost sovereignty of Moganshan and exercised jurisdiction. At this time, more than 140 mountain villas had been built on MoganShan, which were hidden in the dense forest near the top of Mogan Mountain.
In 1927, the golden decade of the Republic of China began, at this time, foreign foreigners had created the quiet Moganshan into a secret place in the clouds that made the upper class flock to it. Politicians, bigwigs, and wealthy businessmen of the Republic of China have gone to Moganshan to buy and build villas, and the third wave of Moganshan villas has begun, and at the same time, the "first wave of developers" have gradually "reversed their hands" and sold.
In 1928, Huang Gao, a Kuomintang elder, an ally of Chiang Kai-shek, who had served as the first mayor of Shanghai Special City and the chief of foreign education of the National Government, bought the "Spring Garden Villa" built by the Englishman Mrs. Qiongsi in 1915, renamed it "Baiyun Mountain Pavilion", and began to live in seclusion, write books, create a silkworm seed factory, build a Mogan Primary School, a library, and launch a rural improvement association, which was a new rural experiment more than 80 years ago. Nine years later, Chiang Kai-shek and Zhou Enlai held the second kuomintang-communist negotiations here.
In 1932, Wang Jingwei, who had not yet become a traitor, went up to the mountain to buy a villa.
In 1933, Hanlin at the end of the Qing Dynasty and Chen Shutong, chairman of Zhejiang Industrial Bank, built a villa. In the same year, Jian Yujie, the owner of Shuangxi Cigarette, bought 2 villas from the Americans, and later built two more.
1934: Jiang Yae, executive director of Zhejiang Industrial Bank, built the "Industrial Bank Villa" for bank colleagues to cultivate. In the same year, Zhang Jingjiang, a zhejiang province after Xiaye, built a villa with the same name as Hangzhou Jingyi Villa on Moganshan Mountain.
In 1935, Shanghai Beach tycoon Du Yuesheng built LinHai Villa...
In the 1930s, before Hong Kong could rise, the number of villas on Mogan Hill was approaching 250. After 1949, a new wave of masters came to the mountain, a new era began, and the smoke clouds of the old era of Moganshan were closed. These mountain villas have become the past lives of contemporary Moganshan homestays.
From the gradual withdrawal of foreigners in 1927 to the nakedness of Gao Tianchengjian in 2007, it was exactly 80 years. 80 years later, the fourth wave of construction climax in Moganshan began. In addition to the Englishman Mark, the South African Gao Tiancheng, and the Frenchman Stufer... The people of the world are once again gathered here. Then, the surroundings began to imitate and follow, and history reincarnated again.
The prosperity of Moganshan Homestay in the contemporary era seems to be accidental, but when we follow the footsteps of history, we can find the accumulation of those layered in the depths of history and hear the echoes of history. These echoes swirl around in time and space and then roar forward, occupying the commanding heights for the current Moganshan Homestay.
In this wave of homestay renovation, steel structures have been used in large quantities. This new process is easy to construct and can effectively expand space. When the renovation is complete, visitors will be pulled on the modified steel balcony.
05.
In addition to the location and team advantages mentioned above; in addition to the intriguing history of connecting Chinese and foreign time and space from modern times to contemporary times, the mountain on which this homestay depends also has a far-reaching history worth talking about. At least, in the slightly thin pre-Qin history of Jiangnan, Moganshan has a certain weight in East China.
The camera cuts back to the Spring and Autumn Warring States, where the State of Wu, centered on Jiangsu, the State of Yue, centered on Zhejiang, and the State of Chu, a great power in the south, wrestle with each other. Moganshan belonged to these three countries in this struggle. We have no way of knowing whether Moganshan at that time had another name, but the most important strategic resource of that era: the forger of cold weapons, Mo Xie and Gan, left the names of these two sword-casting masters on the land of Zhejiang.
At that time, on the shore of the Taihu Lake, Mo Evil Ganjian, male and female, forged swords with their bodies, and transformed the gods and soldiers of the world. More than 2,000 years later, Lu Xun Yihanjin, the birthplace of the Yue Kingdom and a shaoxing native, wrote a "Cast Sword", which is a strange text far superior to Ah Q: The day the sword is formed, it is the death date of the gan general, and the gan will become the first person to feed the sword with his body. After the death of the general, his son Meijian Ruler avenged his father, but the 16-year-old Meijian Ruler did not have the ability to take revenge, so he cut off his own head, and handed over his head and sword to the Man in Black. The man in black came to the palace of the King of Chu and performed for the King of Chu: he put the head of the ruler between the eyebrows into a golden ding, and after the water boiled, the head of the ruler between the eyebrows began to swirl, sing, somersault, swim, and then did not move, the king of Chu was curious, the probe came to see, the man in black said that it was late and fast, and cut the head of the king of Chu into the ding, so the two ends fought in the ding, the man in black watched the battle, and saw that the ruler between the eyebrows was inferior to the cunning king of Chu, so he cut his head into the ding... At the end of the battle, the three heads were boiled in the ding, and it was difficult to distinguish between the king of Chu and the ruler between the eyebrows of the man in black, so the Chu people buried the three heads together... Lu Xun's article was written in October 1926. This time is precisely the watershed Chinese gradually replacing foreigners as the masters of Moganshan.
Today, these two double swords, which are listed as two of China's top ten famous swords, are nowhere to be found, leaving only Moganshan. In the legend of history, one says that Mo Evil Gan will be forced by King Wu to forge swords, and the other is replaced by the King of Chu, whether it is Wu or Chu, what is revealed is the plundering of the strategic resources of forging swords during the game of powerful countries. The game between Wu Yue and Chu Yue continued, and later, yue swallowed Wu and died in Chu, and the yue homeland around Huzhou became the fiefdom of Chun Shenjun Huang Xie, the most intelligent of the four gentlemen of the Warring States. Huang Xie left a deep imprint on today's Shanghai: Huangpu River, Shencheng.
Later, there was the name Moganshan. Later, Gao Tiancheng in Shanghai came to Moganshan. This mountain connects the history of Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places from 2,200 years ago to 2,700 years ago. Today, the homestays here radiate from Lin'an, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and even farther in Hangzhou. And connect the modern and contemporary history of Europe, Africa, and the Americas, and create a new history.
Mogan Mountain, there is no trace of Mo Evil and Gan generals, but the mountain named after the two is still deeply displayed between Suzhou and Hangzhou. In those valleys, you can still hear the turbulent history of the pre-Qin Dynasty.
History is one of the "cultural home foundations" of the homestay. Homestays with stories to tell can get more love and favor.
A mountain forest, a few acres of thin fields, there is no way to borrow power, in addition to the location, to become a successful homestay second element. Therefore, more than half of the homestays are near tourist areas: such as Lijiang Ancient City, Wuzhen, Xitang, Huangshan, Zhouzhuang, Hongcun... Even if it is the Naked Heart Valley, at the beginning of the period, it is also used as a guide near the villa group before and after the Republic of China, and then it spreads to the entire Laoling.
06.
Now let's take a look at the distribution law of Moganshan Homestay. The Moganshan homestays that have been virally publicized have given the melon-eating masses the illusion that the moganshan homestays have been scattered in the mountains for hundreds of miles, but the actual situation is that they are concentrated in the villages of Laoling Village, Ziling Village, Xiantan Village, and Houwu Village in Rafttou Township in Moganshan Town, and are circled by the main peak of Moganshan Mountain, which is basically within the surrounding 3-6 kilometers.
Moganshan is the closest peak of the Tianmu Mountains to the county seat, it is embedded in the edge of the Taihu Great Plain, as long as 10 kilometers away, it can reach the county seat, reach the plain water town.
Li Chaoren's assertion about the location is also fully applicable to the homestay that uses feelings to pile up. Many lovers run to the deep mountains and cold valleys to prepare to open a homestay, although there is no necessity, but they need to bring their own traffic, forever.
Copyright notice: The picture and text come from the homestay circle, only for learning and exchange, the copyright belongs to the original author, if there is a source labeling error or infringement, please contact the editor, will be corrected and deleted in time.
Read thousands of books, travel thousands of miles. Reading Dao Cultural Hotel is honored to share this article with you! Do not land, not creative, if you have a good material case, you are also welcome to share the following message ~