james hilton's novel "The Lost Horizon" describes the magical experience of four westerners, including Conway, who were taken to the Blue Moon Valley in Shangri-La by a mysterious oriental hijacker when they were transferred to Peshawar from a place called Basku (the name of a country's city invented by the author) in the South Asian subcontinent during the war. Throughout Shangri-La described in the novel, various faiths exist peacefully, and there are Christian churches, Buddhist temples, Taoist temples and Confucian ancestral temples everywhere. People adhere to the principle of moderation, and maintain a moderate principle for everything, even for happiness. Shangri-La is a natural scenery-snow-capped mountains, glaciers, canyons, forests, meadows, lakes, and wealth-where there are rich gold mines and pure air, and it is the destination of all beautiful human ideals such as beauty, clarity, security, leisure, long distance, contentment, tranquility and harmony. Here, in fact, Shangri-La has become an ideal country, with a kind of harmony and tranquility. When Macmillan Publishing Company in London, England published the novel in April, 1934, it caused an unexpected sensation in Europe for publishers and writers, and soon sold well in the United States, Japan and other countries. After the novel was published, it was immediately made into a film by the discerning Hollywood production company. The film was popular all over the world, and the theme song "Shangri-La" was sung all over the world. Later, the word Shangri-La was bought out by the Kwok family, a Hong Kong-Singapore entrepreneur, and became a hotel firm, which became popular in the world and became one of the highest symbols of hotel brands in the world, which confirmed the great significance of Lost Horizon in humanities. The Lost Horizon has become the Peach Blossom Garden for westerners. The great significance of The Lost Horizon lies in that it has implanted the artistic conception of a paradise on earth for western cultural values. As the Dictionary of British Writers pointed out when commenting on The Lost Horizon, its merit lies in creating the word "Xanadu"-Shangri-La for English vocabulary. Since then, this imaginary paradise on earth has become synonymous with "Eden", "Xanadu" and "Utopia". Due to the extensive influence of novels and later films, Shangri-La has become a recognized paradise or secret place. During World War II, when the US Air Force bombed Tokyo for the first time, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) told the outside world that these planes took off from Shangri-La. Roosevelt also named Shangri-La, a mountain villa of the President of the United States in Virginia. Later, Eisenhower changed it to Camp David in memory of his grandson David.
Nowadays, scholars generally believe that Shangri-La is a yearning place and an ideal country in the mind, which may not really exist, just like the Peach Blossom Garden in China. However, its prototype is in the Hengduan Mountains in the southwest of China, so it is generally believed that the Tibetan area at the junction of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet is the Shangri-La described by Hilton, because Locke lived in this area for decades. The scope of this Sichuan-Yunnan-Tibet region generally includes Lijiang, Lugu Lake, Shangri-La (Zhongdian, Diqing, Yunnan), Meili Snow Mountain, Hutiao Gorge, the last Shangri-La (Yading, Daocheng, Sichuan), Lugu Lake, Gongga Mountain, Beauty Valley in Danba, Sun Valley (Derong, Sichuan), Xiangcheng, Mangkang, Qamdo, Bomi, Medog and Yarlung Zangbo. The scenery in this area is generally consistent with the description in Lost Horizon, especially the distinctive things mentioned in the book can be found here. Such as; Meili Snow Mountain, Daocheng Aden Sanshen Mountain, etc. However, it is not specifically mentioned that there is a place called Shangri-La in Yunnan, which was renamed by Zhongdian, the state capital of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in 21. This is not to say that Shangri-La mentioned in the book is in this place, but the decision made by the local government for the sake of developing tourism economy. Speaking of this Shangri-La, there is another anecdote: as early as the 197s and 198s, news kept coming out that Shangri-La had been found, in India and Nepal, etc., but it was later considered to be a hype for the needs of tourism economy, not a strict academic certification. Yunnan can be said to have long recognized the role of tourism development in promoting the economy, such as the 1999 World Expo. He first asked the central government to approve the renaming of Shangri-La. When the Sichuan government realized the importance of tourism economy, the naming of Shangri-La was irrevocable, so the Sichuan government renamed Ziwa Township in Daocheng Aden in Sichuan as Shangri-La Township, which was not enough. It also added a prefix to Daocheng Aden-the last Shangri-La, which was not enough. It also awarded Daocheng Aden the most authentic name of Shambala, because the renaming of county-level cities required the approval of the central government, so it was not good to change it without authorization. This is the origin and inside story of a domestic dispute in Shangri-La. .