In 1933 the
English writer James Hilton published the novel Lost Horizon. In it, he describes the mythical place of Shangri-La;
it is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in
the western end of the Kunlun
Mountains. It is a
permanently happy place isolated from the outside world. For us today, the name
of Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, but certainly
evokes, as they say, imagery of oriental exoticism.
Sounds like a
place you might want to visit? Of course! And that’s exactly why this mythical
place in the mountains is now in existence. Whether it is the place Hilton was
referring to – his book describes a place far away from Beijing in the mountains, of which there are
sure to be quite a few – it will never again be as genuine as it is right now.
The developers and the tourist trail they're about to create will see to that.
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I had a month at
my disposal in China,
and although I opted for just a couple of provinces in the south, I found a
country undertaking rapid construction and development (as our economic
paradigm will call it). From mega-city Guangzhou in the Pearl River delta, via
the much poorer province of Guizhou, and all the way to the beginning of the
Himalayas, the pattern seems the same; mass-production and (as I’m sure the
argument would be) practicality rather than aesthetics and much consideration.
It is an unpleasant
sight to approach a city like Kunming
by rail, as every direction sports identical high-rise condominiums which are
being erected by the dozens. For all my aesthetical grievances, though, I
concede that China
needs to do more to house its population than most other countries. From Kunming I soon found the
trail towards Shangri-La.
Stopping in the
old towns of Dalì and Lijiang on the way, I did not yet know that I was
visiting the future of Shangri-La; scenic places, but so packed with tourists
that one afternoon in each could more than satiate my curiosity for said
places. Shangri-La was different…is different. Yet..
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The story goes
that Chinese scholars - or perhaps “scholars” - figured out sometime in the 1990s that
James Hilton’s Shangri-La could be pinned down geographically to the county of Zhongdian
in China’s Yunnan Province.
Consequently the old town of Zhongdian
has, by default it might seem, become known as Shangri-La. A strong scent of
Yuan from visitors would have been all about the place, and sure enough; by
2002 an official decree was issued by the government in Beijing renaming Zhongdian into Shangri-La.
-----
On my journey
there, I experienced the bus breaking down as it was scaling a mountain pass,
leaving us to wait for quite some time. It’s all part of the charm of visiting
a place which lies a little bit beyond most other places. It’s part of what
qualifies Zhongdian to be called Shangri-La. Hilton’s Shangri-La was, in the
author’s eyes, surely not meant to be accessible by an elevated express way.
And yet that is what is currently under construction; the fork-like foundations which will in time facilitate transportation of goods and people to this place in the mountains, sure to carry along the brands and chains with which you're familiar from airports. A real pity, if you ask me.
A stroll in the
old town is still a laid-back experience; cool, crisp air, cogging-joint timber
houses, Tibetan music, and multi-coloured prayer flags blessing the five
elements of sky, air, fire, water and earth. To me it really is mystical and
harmonious, just like James Hilton found it. But as accessibility increases,
the place will change. A probable opposite to what Hilton would have wanted - and me along with him. In my view, authenticity trumps cultural convergence. And that's what I'm looking for when I spend days venturing to the place beyond the next place.
James Hilton
found his Shangri-La through trekking. But the place’s authenticity dies with
his telling of it, ferociously assisted by the Chinese developers. To me there is a lesson in there; walk more, talk less...
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