Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, and particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia - a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. The name also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient. In the ancient Tibetan scriptures, existence of seven such places is mentioned as Nghe-Beyul Khembalung. Khembalung is one of several beyuls ("hidden lands" similar to Shangri-La) believed to have been created by Padmasambhava in the 9th century as idyllic, sacred places of refuge for Buddhists during times of strife (Reinhard 1978).
Some scholars believe that the Shangri-La story owes a literary debt to Shambhala, a mythical kingdom in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which was sought by Eastern and Western explorers.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Etymology
The phrase "Shangri-La" most probably comes from the Tibetan ???,"Shang" - a district of Ü-Tsang, north of Tashilhunpo" + ??, pronounced "ri", "Mountain" = "Shang Mountain" + ?, Mountain Pass, which suggests that the area is accessed to, or is named by, "Shang Mountain Pass".
Location
In China, the poet Tao Yuanming of the Jin Dynasty (265-420) described a kind of Shangri-La in his work The Tale of the Peach Blossom Spring (Chinese: ????; pinyin: Táohu? Yuán Jì). The story goes that there was a fisherman from Wuling, who came across a beautiful peach grove, and he discovered happy and content people who lived completely cut off from the troubles in the outside world since the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE). In modern China, Zhongdian county was renamed Xi?nggél?l? (????, Shangri-La in Chinese) in 2001, to attract tourists. The legendary Kun Lun Mountains (???) offer another possible place for the Shangri-La valleys.
A popularly believed physical inspiration for Hilton's Shangri-La is the Hunza Valley in northern Pakistan, close to the Chinese border, which Hilton visited a few years before Lost Horizon was published. Being an isolated green valley surrounded by mountains, enclosed on the western end of the Himalayas, it closely matches the physical description in the novel. The Hunza Valley, however, lacks Tibetan culture and the Buddhist religion, so could not have been Hilton's cultural inspiration for Lost Horizon.
The cultural representation of Shangri-La is most often cited to be northwestern Yunnan Province, China, where National Geographic explorer Joseph Rock lived and traveled during the 1920s and early 1930s and wrote several articles in National Geographic magazine that are richly illustrated with superb photography. This coincides with the time when James Hilton would have been writing Lost Horizon, but there is no direct evidence to support this claim. The evidence points to another set of explorers. In a New York Times interview in 1936, Hilton states that he used "Tibetan material" from the British Museum, particularly the travelogue of two French priests, Evariste Regis Huc and Joseph Gabet, to provide the Tibetan cultural and Buddhist spiritual inspiration for Shangri-La. Huc and Gabet travelled a roundtrip between Beijing and Lhasa in 1844-46 on a route more than 250 kilometres (160 mi) north of Yunnan. Their famous travelogue, first published in French in 1850, went through many editions in many languages. A popular "condensed translation" was published in England in 1928, at the time that Hilton would have been getting inspired for - or even writing - Lost Horizon.
Today, various places claim the title, such as parts of southern Kham in northwestern Yunnan province, including the tourist destinations of Lijiang and Zhongdian. 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. Also in 2001, Zhongdian County in northwestern Yunnan officially renamed itself Shangri-La County.
American explorers Ted Vaill and Peter Klika visited the Muli area of southern Sichuan Province in 1999, and claimed that the Muli monastery in this remote region was the model for James Hilton's Shangri-La, which they thought Hilton learned about from articles on this area in several National Geographic magazine articles in the late 1920s and early 1930s written by Austrian-American explorer Joseph Rock. Vaill completed a film based on their research, "Finding Shangri-La", which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. However, Michael McRae unearthed an obscure James Hilton interview from a New York Times gossip column where he reveals his cultural inspiration for Shangri-La and, if it is any place, it is more than 250 km north of Muli on the route travelled by Huc and Gabet.
Between 2002 - 2004 a series of expeditions were led by author and film maker Laurence Brahm in western China which determined that the Shangri-La mythical location in Hilton's book Lost Horizon was based on references to northern Yunnan Province from articles published by National Geographic's first resident explorer Joseph Rock.
Shambhala is a core concept in Tibetan Buddhism that describes a realm of harmony between man and nature that is also connected with the Kalachakra or "wheel of time". The Shambhala ideal is described in detail in the Shambhala Sutra, a historical text written by the Sixth Panchen Lama (1737-1780) which describes some of the Shambhala locations in Ngari the western prefecture of Tibet, documented in Brahm's 2004 film expedition Shambhala Sutrah.
On December 2, 2010, OPB televised one of Martin Yan's Hidden China episodes, "Life in Shangri-La", in which Yan said that "Shangri-La" is the actual name of a real town in the hilly and mountainous region in northwestern Yunnan Province, frequented by both Han and Tibetan locals. Martin Yan visited arts and craft shops, local farmers as they harvest crops, and sampled their cuisine.
Television presenter and historian Michael Wood, in the "Shangri-La" episode of the BBC documentary series In Search of Myths and Heroes, suggests that the legendary Shangri-La is the abandoned city of Tsaparang in upper Satluj valley, and that its two great temples were once home to the kings of Guge in modern Tibet.
In Altai Mountains folklore Mount Belukha is also believed to be a gateway to Shambhala.
In popular culture
There are a number of cultural usages of the Shangri-La idea that have developed since 1933 in the wake of the novel and the film made from it.
In astronomy
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union named the equatorial, dark, low-lying area of Saturn's moon Titan Shangri-La.
Gardens and resorts
In 1937, Lutcher Stark, a Texas philanthropist, started building his own Shangri-La in Orange, Texas. His Shangri-La was an azalea garden situated alongside a cypress-tupelo swamp. By 1950, thousands of people were traveling to Orange to visit Shangri-La, and many magazines published photographs of it. In 1958, a major snowstorm struck east Texas, destroying thousands of azaleas and closing the garden for 40 years. The garden has recently been renovated and is now open to the public once again.
The businessman Harold Nixon Porter established a nature reserve called Shangri-La in Betty's Bay in South Africa in 1955. The name was changed to Harold Porter National Botanical Garden when the reserve was bequeathed to the National Botanic Gardens of South Africa in 1959.
In 1983, a tourist resort built on the banks of Kachura Lake in Skardu, northern Pakistan, was based on the idea of Hilton's novel. The resort is named Shangrila Resort. Today, the lake itself is also known as Shangrila Lake.
In film
California's Ojai Valley was the location for the Frank Capra film Lost Horizon (1937). The outdoor scenes of the villagers of Shangri-La and a cavorting Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt were in fact filmed in nearby Sherwood Forest (Westlake Village) and Palm Springs. The exterior of the grand lamasery was built and later dismantled on the Columbia Ranch in Burbank, California. However, according to film historian Kendall Miller in the photodocumentary bonus feature on the Lost Horizon DVD, an aerial shot of Ojai Valley taken from an outlook on Highway 150 was used to represent the Shangri-La valley.
In the Movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow after being knocked unconscious by a large amount of Dynamite, Joe Sullivan (Jude Law), Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Kaji (Omid Djalili) wake up in Shangri-La and are given new clothes by Tibetan-speaking monks as their old ones had to be burned due to Radiation.
In television
- In Season 7, Episode 20 of Boy Meets World, entitled "As Time Goes By," Topanga accidentally discovers the existence of a time continuum vortex in the back of the apartment closet. She is transported, with no memory of her real identity, to a 1940s-era, black and white universe centered around a café, Rory's Shangri-La, where people go to forget their troubles.
- In the American situation comedy Frasier, Shangri-La is the name of the apartment complex where Niles moved after his divorce from his wealthy wife Maris. This has a huge impact on the class-conscious Niles.
- The anime series Noein depicts an alternate time-space to ours, known as Shangri-La, in which there is no suffering.
- Shangri-La was the name given to a space colony in the television series Mobile Suit Gundam.
- Shangri-La is the name given to Edward and Al's world in the Full Metal Alchemist movie.
- In the anime series Outlaw Star, Ronald MacDougal's ship's name is the Shangri-La.
- Shangri-La is used as its very meaning by Gouda in the show Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex when Motoko Kusanagi breaks into the external memory of Gouda with the help of the tachikomas.
- In Scrubs, Carla advises Dr. Cox that there is no Shangri-La in the episode "My Karma".
- In Atomic Betty, there is a race of warrior birds who live on clouds called the Shangri-La-Di-Das.
- Shangri-La is the name of the Holden's family home in British TV series Blackpool.
- In the children's show Clifford's Really Big Movie the group of friends makes its way to "Shangri-large" for a talent contest.
- In the anime Saiyuki, Son Goku, the monkey king, and Genjo Sanzo, a high buddhist priest set out to protect Shangri-La from Demons, with help from Cho Hakkai and Sha Gojyo, two demons themselves.
- On the TV series Angel, Gunn describes Jasmine's superficially perfect transformation of Los Angeles as "Shangri-la-la-land".
- Shangri-La was parodied on The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius episode "Operation: Rescue Jet Fusion" as Shangri-Llama.
- An episode of the children's show Cyberchase is set in Shangri La. The episode is about the mathematical concept of doubling.
- A 1990 episode of the Disney TV show TaleSpin titled "Last Horizons" parodies the fictional city from the novel. Baloo finds the legendary "Panda-La" (a reference to Shangri-La), a mystical utopia, where he is warmly received. The reception, however, turns out to be a ruse.
- Though not a paradise by any stretch of the imagination, Shangri-la is an anime series set in a dystopian future filled with environmental crisis of epidemic proportions.
- Shangri-La appears in The Librarians episode "And The Fatal Separation". It is portrayed as a hidden city ruled by the Monkey King, who controls it through the use of his mystic tail and an enchanted staff.
Law & Order season 13 episode 2 is entitled "Shangri-La." Jack McCoy quotes at the end of the episode, "how does the story go, when you leave Shangri-La you immediately turn old and gray" in reference to the perpetrator.
In literature
Eiichi Ikegami wrote a novel titled Shangri-La (2005); an anime adaptation of the novel was released in 2008.
Michael Buckley covers the topic in Eccentric Explorers and briefly in other books.
In video gaming
- Shangri-La is featured in the 2014 video game Far Cry 4.
- Shangri-La is a zombie map in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
- Shangri-La is a remastered zombie map in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.
- Shangri-La is a multiplayer map in Unreal Tournament 3.
- Shangri-La is a time zone in The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time.
- Shangri-La is a mission featured in Hitman: Absolution.
- Shangri-La is the name of Dhalsim's Ultra Combo 2 in Street Fighter 4.
- The vacation destination "Shang Simla" can be visited in The Sims 3: World Adventures.
- In video game Might & Magic: World of Xeen, Shangrila is name of a city full of treasures.
- Shangri-La is the name of dragon dual blades in Monster Hunter 4U.
- Finding Shangri-La is the main goal of Nathan Drake in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
- Shangri-La is the name of a playable chapter in Corpse Party: Book of Shadows.
- Shangri- La is an unlockable world in "Seduce Me 2: The Demon War".
- Steve Jackson's game Illuminati portrays 'Shangri-La' as being a political group/faction of which a player can choose in order to influence his/her stance of play during a game and hence reassign the goal objective for the player.
In music
- ShangriLah is an EcoTechJazz Metal Group from South Africa (est - 2016).
- The Shangri-Las were a pop group in the 1960s.
Songs with "Shangri-La" in the title:
- "Shangri-La", written by Carl Sigman (lyricist), bandleader Matty Malneck and Robert Maxwell in 1946; best known recordings were by The Four Coins (1957), an instrumental by composer Maxwell himself (1964), and The Lettermen (1969)
- "Shangri-La" by The Kinks, from the album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969)
- "Shangri-La" by Druid, from the album Toward the Sun (1975)
- "Shangri-La" by the Electric Light Orchestra, from their album A New World Record (1976); the song refers to "My Shangri-La" as a state of bliss
- "Shangri-La" by Neil Innes, from his album Taking Off (1977); the song was later reworked as a Beatles pastiche for The Rutles' album Archaeology (1996)
- "Shangri-La" by the Steve Miller Band, from their album Italian X Rays (1984)
- "Shangri-La" by Kim Wilde, from her album Teases & Dares (1984)
- "Shangri-La" by Don Henley, from his album The End of the Innocence (1989)
- "This is Shangrila" by Mother Love Bone, from their self-titled album (1992)
- "Shangri-La" by angela (band), the opening theme to the anime Fafner in the Azure (2004)
- "Poor Man's Shangri-La" by Ry Cooder, from his album Chávez Ravine (2005)
- "Shangri-La" by Chatmonchy (2006)
- "Bourgeois Shangri-La" by Miss Li, from her album Dancing the Whole Way Home (2009)
- "Shangri-La" by Asami Imai, the opening theme of the video game Corpse Party (2010)
- "Oh Shangri-La" by Jon Fratelli, from his solo album Psycho Jukebox
- "Shangri-La" by Acid Black Cherry, from their album [2012] (2012)
- "Shangri-La" by Die Heuwels Fantasties, from their album Ja. Nee. Lekker (2014)
- "Sucker's Shangri-La" by the Lower Dens, from their album Escape from Evil (2015)
- "Shangri-La" by Digitalism, from their album Mirage (2016)
- "Shangri-La" by VIXX from their EP Shangri-La (2017)
Songs that mention Shangri-La:
- "Lovely Lady of Arcadia" by Demis Roussos (1974)
- "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin, from their album Physical Graffiti (1975)
- "Sin City" by AC/DC, from their album Powerage (1978)
- "Neverland" by The Sisters of Mercy, from their album Floodland (1987)
- In the song "Great Milenko" by Insane Clown Posse, the eponymous character is said to be from Shangri-La (1997)
- "The Trail We Blaze" by Elton John, from the soundtrack to The Road to El Dorado (2000)
- "Idler's Dream" by Oasis, a B-side from "The Hindu Times" single (2002)
- "Many Moons" by Janelle Monáe, from her extended play EP Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) (2007); the song mentions Shangri-La as a place to go "when the world just treats you wrong"
- "Ringo Mogire Beam" by Kenji Ohtsuki (2009)
- "Suck it and See" by Arctic Monkeys, from their album also named Suck it and See (2011)
Albums with "Shangri-La" in the title:
- Trouble in Shangri-La by Stevie Nicks (2001)
- Shangri-La Dee Da by Stone Temple Pilots (2001)
- The Wraith: Shangri-La by Insane Clown Posse (2002)
- Shangri-La by Mark Knopfler (2004)
- Shangri-La by YACHT (2011)
- Shangri-La by Mucc (2012)
- Shangri La by Jake Bugg (2013)
- Shangri-La by The Blackeyed Susans (2003)
- Shangri-La by VIXX (2017)
In politics
- Following the Doolittle Raid on Japan in April 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, replying to a reporter's question, declared that the Raiders had taken off from a secret U.S. base in Shangri-La. This led to the naming of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Shangri-La.
- In 1943, the U.S. government camp Hi-Catoctin, located in the hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, was converted into a retreat for the President of the United States and renamed Shangri-La by President Franklin Roosevelt, who modeled the lodge after his family's winter vacation home in Warm Springs, Georgia. After Dwight D. Eisenhower took office in 1953, he renamed it Camp David.
Other
Glastonbury Festival created an after-hours area within the site called Shangri-La in 2009. It has evolved over the past three years each with a slightly different theme: In 2009 the socialist utopia became a dystopian pleasure city run by a corrupt regime. In 2010 the ruling administration was overthrown and the city was opened up to rebels and chancers to carve out their own little piece of paradise. The 2011 storyline was pre-apocalyptic - the population of Shangri-La prepared to flee a viral infection before the end of the world. During the festival's fallow year, 2012, the end of the world took place and in the 2013 theme became the afterlife. Shangri-La was divided between Shangri-Heaven and Shangri-Hell, combined to form the Shafterlife. In 2014, the two areas, Heaven and Hell, were themed-based around the perils of the traditional office workplace. 'Shangri- Hell' comprised a collection of self-contained buildings all based on the departments of a corporations head-office. Some were in fact bars and other were display installations for amusement purposes.
Thanks to a remark by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt on the Doolittle Raid, the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La (CV-38) was named after the fictional location.
Usage
Shangri-La is often used in a similar context to "Garden of Eden," to represent a paradise hidden from modern man. It is sometimes used as an analogy for a lifelong quest or something elusive that is much sought. For a man who spends his life obsessively looking for a cure to a disease, such a cure could be said to be that man's "Shangri-La." It also might be used to represent perfection that is sought by man in the form of love, happiness, or Utopian ideals. It may be used in this context alongside other mythical and famous examples of somewhat similar metaphors such as El Dorado, The Fountain of Youth, and The Holy Grail.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
EmoticonEmoticon