- 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 story of Shangri-La is based on the concept of Shambhala, a mystical city in the Buddhist religion.
There are a number of European legends similar to the legend of Shangri-La. The Odyssey reports the land of the Lotus-Eaters, and the palace of Alcinous. See also Atlantis, Lyonesse, and El Dorado.
Several possible places in the Buddhist Himalaya between north India and Western China 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 Story of the Peach Blossom Valley, for example. The legendary Kun Lun Mountains 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.
Today, various places claim the title, such as parts of northwestern Yunnan province, including the tourist destination of Lijiang. 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.
In Chinese, Shangri-La is translated as 世外桃源 (pinyin shìwaìtáoyuán; WG shih-wai-t'ao-yüan; literally 'the peach river-source away from the world'), from Tao Qian's work. In Hong Kong, it is transcribed as 香格里拉.
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 Shangri-La.
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