Where is Shangri-La in the novel? Exploring the Realistic Prototype of Shangri-La

Shangri-La, also known as Shambhala, which means "holding blessings", is a mythical world in Buddhism. Where is Shangri-La? Is there a place like Shangri-La in the world? People talk about it, most people think it doesn't exist at all, it's just an illusory place of legend.

Shangri-la in the novel

1933, the British cooking writer james hilton mentioned this place in the documentary novel Lost Horizon, saying that it is at the end of the horizon, an almost isolated world of ice and snow, with pyramid-shaped snow peaks, blue plateau lakes and a deep and steep grand canyon. Three big rivers are rushing forward here, and this place is called Shangri-La.

After the publication of james hilton's novels, Shangri-La became the target of explorers all over the world, who designated India, Nepal, China and the Karakorum Mountains in Tibet as the search areas. For decades, explorers have been to every possible or similar place, but no one hasn't come back depressed. "Where is Shangri-La?" -this has almost become a mystery in the world.

Looking for the prototype of Shangri-La in the novel

1957, the National Tourism Administration of India announced to the outside world that Balthus Town, located under the Himalayan ice peak in Indian-controlled Kashmir, was Shangri-La. 1992, Nepal's tourism department announced the border town of Mustang in Nepal as the prototype of Shangri-La.

The book Ancient Naxi Kingdom in Southwest China written by Austrian-American botanist Dr. Joseph Charles Francis Rock, the father of Western Naxi studies, points out that Lijiang, Yunnan is more like Shangri-La than any other place, with blue lakes, wide grasslands and magnificent Lama Temple. The local Xionggu Village was also recognized as the prototype of Shangri-La, because it was found that there was a stone tablet in the village during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, and the handwriting on it was still complete and clear.

On September 25th, 1997, a famous scholar in China, with an honorary doctorate in anthropology and ethnomusicology from Oxford University, formally proposed that Shangri-La, which attracted worldwide attention, was located in Jidi and Langla, Zhongdian County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. For example, Mr. Xuanke proved that many real scenes in Zhongdian are very similar to Shangri-La described in Lost Horizon, such as Balagengzong Snow Mountain, Lonely Isthmus and Napahai. And snow-covered meadows and the Lama Temple can also be found here.

Some people put forward different opinions, such as plateau lakes, castles, snow-capped mountains and canyons. Can be found in India, Tibet and even Pakistan. Why must it be Zhongdian, Yunnan? Teacher Xuan Ke said that although the snow-capped mountains, grasslands, lakes and canyons mentioned in the novel The Lost Horizon can indeed be found in China, India, Tibet and Yunnan, only Zhongdian in Yunnan has the characteristics of the red clay plateau and parallel rivers mentioned in the book. The only red earth plateau on the earth is in Yunnan, and the three parallel rivers refer to the Jinsha River, Lancang River and Nujiang River, but these three rivers only flow eastward in the shape of "three" in Zhongdian, forming a veritable spectacle of "three parallel rivers".