Shangri-la. Most of you may have heard of this phrase. In these days, "Shangri-la" is the name of many luxurious restaurants, and spa baths. It is also the name of the biggest hotel chain in Hong Kong.

In fact, Shangri-la is the name of a made-up region, mentioned in the book <The Lost Horizon> by James Hilton. In the book, Shangri-la is described as a real paradise with beautiful nature. Readers of his book were eager to find the real Shangri-la, to find the place that could be called as the real Shangri-la.

 The people's eagerness to find this paradise gave Shangri-la a special neuance. Eventually, when people thought of the world, they came to picture beautiful tropical beaches and green forests with exotic species in their minds.

 So the Chinese government, in order to boost the nation's economy with tourism, proclaimed Zhongdian, a region of China's Southwestern Yunnan province, as the REAL Shangri-la. Shangri-la was even given a Chinese name-????(xiang ge li la)!  Because Yunnan was one of the most isolated places in China, and was home to many endangered tropical animals and rain forests, it was perfect to be called as the place James Hilton was talking about in his book.

As a result, Shangri-la became a tourist hotspot, and it certainly helped the  Chinese economy. However, nature was badly harmed. About the beautiful nature of Shangri-la, and how did tourism affect this beautiful natural site, I  will mention in the next article!