Shangri-La, Yunnan

Shangri-La (; ) is a county-level city in northwestern Yunnan province, China, named after the mythical land depicted in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon''. It is the capital and largest city of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is bordered by the city of Lijiang to the south and Sichuan province to the northwest, north, and east.

Geography

Shangri-La City is located in the east of Diqing Prefecture, in northwestern Yunnan. It borders Daocheng County and Muli County, Sichuan to the east, Yulong County of Lijiang and Weixi County to the south, Deqin County to the west, and Derong County and Xiangcheng County of Sichuan to the north and northwest.

Name

The city was originally a county named Zhongdian (); the Tibetan population referred to the area by its traditional name Gyalthang (), meaning "royal plains". On 17 December 2001, the Chinese government renamed the county "Shangri-La", after the fictional land of Shangri-La in the 1933 James Hilton novel ''Lost Horizon''. This renaming, along with the county's upgrade to a county-level city on 16 December 2014, was part of an effort by the Chinese government to promote tourism in the area. The Chinese name of the county seat, Jiantang (), reflects a Mandarin transliteration of Gyalthang.

History

In the early morning of 11 January 2014, a fire broke out in the 1,000-year-old Dukezong Tibetan neighborhood. About 242 homes and shops were destroyed and 2,600 residents were displaced.
About half of the old town was destroyed by the fire. Afterwards, residents were allowed back to their homes and shops. By the end of 2014 rebuilding had started and tourism started to return. Tourism was generally not affected by the fire, since the main sights in the old town, such as the prayer wheel and temples, were not damaged. Many of the other main sights are located outside of the old town.

Demographics and languages

The southern half of the city is inhabited by the Naxi people, who speak the Naxi language, a Lolo-Burmese language separate from the Tibetic languages. The northern half is inhabited by the Khampas, who speak the southern variety of Khams Tibetan. Southwestern Mandarin is spoken by the Han Chinese throughout the city.

The ambiance of the town is distinctly Tibetan with prayer flags fluttering, mountains known by holy names, lamaseries and rocks inscribed in Tibetan language with Buddhist sutras.

Administrative divisions

Shangri-La city has 4 towns, 6 townships and 1 ethnic township.

Climate

Shangri-La has either a dry-winter, warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dwb) using the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm, or a dry-winter subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwb) using the isotherm, both of which are unusually cool by Yunnan standards due to the high elevation, which ranges between . Winters are chilly but sunny, with a 24 hour January average temperature of -2.0 °C (28.4 °F), while summers are cool, with a 24 July-hour average temperature of , and feature frequent rain; more than 70% of the annual precipitation is delivered from June to September. The annual mean is . Except during the summer, nights are usually sharply cooler than the days. Despite the dryness of the winter, the small amount of precipitation is generally sufficient to cause major transportation dislocations and isolate the area between November and March.

National park

* Pudacuo National Park, the first national park in China to meet IUCN standards, is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas World Heritage Site.

Transport

* Shangri-La railway station on Lijiang–Shangri-La railway opened on 26 November 2023. It takes 1h 20min to reach Lijiang by train, and about 5h to the provincial capital Kunming.
* The city's airport is Diqing Shangri-La Airport. Covering an area of 225 hectares, it is one of the biggest airports in the northwest of Yunnan. There are flights to Kunming, Chengdu, Lhasa, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
* Taking a long-distance bus is also a major means to get to Shangri-La. It takes about four hours to get to Shangri-La from Lijiang by bus. Tourists who rent a car for the trip can also visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiaoxia, 虎跳峡) and the First Bend of Yangtze River on the way.Transportation" ChinaTour.net
Accessed 9 May 2014
* Many travelers use the county town as a gateway into Tibet, either travelling many days overland by jeep to Lhasa, or by flying from the city's airport. However, the town itself is a tourist destination, primarily due to the nearby Gandan Sumtseling Monastery, ''Ganden Sumtsen Ling'', ''Sōngzànlín Sì''), Pudacuo National Park, and Tiger Leaping Gorge.
* China National Highway 214

See also

* Shangri-La Beer
* Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas – UNESCO World Heritage Site

References

Further reading

* Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). ''China's Ancient Tea Horse Road''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B005DQV7Q2
* Holas, Ashild.
Tourism and Tibetan Culture in Transition: A Place Called Shangrila
(Routledge Contemporary China Series). Routledge, 12 September 2007. , 9788173871092.

External links

Shangri-La City Official Website

{{Authority control

County-level divisions of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Tourism in Yunnan

Cities in Yunnan