A Peaceful Place: Raising Imperial Children at China’s Moganshan Hill Station

Across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, hill stations served as meaningful places of respite for imperial families, providing them with opportunities to escape the heat and political upheaval of lowland cities. But while the importance placed upon these spaces as idyllic retreats has helped to inscribe them as popular subjects of historical study, the majority of research focuses on hill stations in formal colonial settings. This article expands upon these conversations through a detailed examination of Moganshan, a mountain resort in eastern China founded by US Protestant missionaries at the turn of the twentieth century. Examining accounts of white children, who constituted a significant portion of the resort’s summer population, this article argues that Moganshan served not only as a temporary refuge from the strains of missionary life but also as a laboratory in the eyes of parents, who saw it as a place where their offspring could participate in activities designed to replicate ideal childhoods ‘at home’. By highlighting connections between Moganshan and other hill stations across Asia, this article demonstrates that the desire to create immersive childhood experiences drove American missionaries in China to mobilise imperial spatial practices – even if they operated outside of formal colonial structures.