Shangri-La

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For other uses, see Shangri-La (disambiguation).

Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the novel, Lost Horizon, written by British writer James Hilton in 1933. In it, "Shangri-La" is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Himalaya. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient. The story of Shangri-La is based on the concept of Shambhala, a mystical city in the Buddhist religion.

Several possible places in the Buddhist Himalaya between north India and Tibet have been suggested as the actual basis for Hilton's legend. In China, Tao Qian of the Jin Dynasty described a Shangri-La in his work Story of the Peach Blossom Valley (Chinese: 桃花源記, pinyin: Táohuā Yuán Jì). The legendary Kun Lun Mountains in Tibet offer other possible Shangri-La valleys. There are also a number of modern Shangri-La pseudo-legends that have developed since 1933 in the wake of the novel and the film made from it. The Nazis had an enthusiasm for Shangri-La,too, where they hoped to find an ancient master race in a remote area similar to the Nordic race "unspoiled" by Buddhism. They sent 7 expeditions to Tibet, the most famous one led by Ernst Schäfer in 1938. The experience of Austrian SS member Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter in Tibet are now best known through the biography and film Seven Years in Tibet.

In the beginning of World War II against Japan, the United States flew most of its bombers from mainland China. In propaganda, they claimed that they started them from Shangri-La. Later, one of the aircraft carriers used in the Pacific ocean was named USS Shangri-La. Ojai, California is said to have been the setting for Shangri-La in the 1937 film Lost Horizon.

Today, various places claim the title, such as parts of southern Kham in northwestern Yunnan province, including the tourist destinations of Lijiang and Zhongdian. Places like Sichuan and Tibet also claim the real Shangri-la was in its territory. In 2001, Tibet Autonomous Region put forward a proposal that the three regions optimise all Shangri-la tourism resources and promote them as one. After failed attempts to establish a China Shangri-la Ecological Tourism Zone in 2002 and 2003, government representatives of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and Tibet Autonomous Region signed a declaration of cooperation in 2004. Also in 2003, Zhongdian County in northwestern Yunnan officially renamed itself Shangri-La County.

Bhutan which was till now isolated from outside world and with its unique form of Tibetan Buddhism has been hailed as the last Shangri-La.

"Shangri La" is repeatedly alluded to in the Kurt Vonnegut novel "Deadeye Dick."

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Use as Metaphor and Figure of Speech

Shangri-la is often used in a similar context to which "Garden of Eden" might be used, to represent a perfect paradise that exists hidden from modern man. It can sometimes be used as an analogy for a life-long quest or something elusive that is much sought. For a man who spends his life obsessively looking for a cure to a disease, such a cure could be said to be that man's "Shangri-La". It also might be used to represent perfection that is sought by man in the form of love, happiness, or utopian ideals. It may be used in this context alongside other mythical and famous examples of somewhat similar metaphors such as The Holy Grail, El Dorado, The Fountain of Youth, and to an extent "white whale" (referring to the white whale chased by the obsessed Captain Ahab in the book Moby-Dick).

The name is said to have inspired Carl Barks when he wrote the Disney cartoon "The Land of Trala La" published in 1954.

Shangri la was also described in episode 48 of the 80's cartoon Jem. Jem and the Holograms visit Shangri la to find a magical music.

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