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In the year 1993, James Hilton described an
eternally peaceful and quiet place among mountains in the East -
"Shangri-La" in one of his novels for the first time. In the novel
"Lost Horizon", an English diplomat Conway and his brother Gorge
scattered the English citizens and helped them leave the dangerous
region. On their way home, their plane was hijacked and fell down
into the mountain in the Tibetan region. Some lucky survivors were
taken to Shangri-la where Conway found l ots
of fantastic things in such a state founded nearly 200 years ago,
in which the local people lived up to more than one hundred years
old and lived peacefully and harmoniously with the other people,
animals and everything here. The place was called "Shangri-La" by
the local folks.
James Hilton located "Shangri-La" in a mysterious
valley which was surrounded by snowcapped mountains; near where
there were snow-clad peaks, blue lakes, broad grassy marshlands,
and lamaseries, Buddhist nunneries, mosques, Catholic Church; the
human beings and the nature were in perfect harmony, several
religions and varies of nationalities exited at the same time;
Baishui terrace, the temples looked splendid in green and golden;
though people contacted the outer world by caravan for a long
time, many foreign experts and scholars had come here to
investigate and remained much relics.
Obviously, that is not only a beautiful scenery,
but also a kind of artistic conception. With the novel and the
film coming out, Shangri-La became very famous in western
countries. Later, a Chinese named Guo Huonian used the name of
this place and set up "Shangri-La" Hotel Group which has become
one of the most successful hotel group in the world.
At
the same time, people didn't give up looking for the legendary
Shangri-La. Up to the end of this century, they finally have
found--After inspecting and proving on many aspects, people found
that Diqing Prefecture, the only Tibetan region in Yunnan, China,
has striking similarity with what's described in the tale
regarding either on natural scenery or people's way of living.
Therefore, the name of "Diqing-Shangri-La" spreads worldwide.
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