# Shangri-La, Yunnan

Shangri-La (Chinese: 香格里拉; pinyin: Xiānggélǐlā; Tibetan: སེམས་ཀྱི་ཉི་ཟླ།) is a county-level city in northwestern Yunnan province, China, named after the mythical land depicted in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon. It is the capital and largest city of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is bordered by the city of Lijiang to the south and Sichuan province to the northwest, north, and east.

## Name

The city was originally a county named Zhongdian (中甸县; Zhōngdiàn Xiàn); the Tibetan population referred to the area by its traditional name Gyalthang (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་ཐང་, Wylie: rgyal thang, ZYPY: Gyaitang), meaning "royal plains". On 17 December 2001, the Chinese government renamed the county "Shangri-La", after the fictional land of Shangri-La in the 1933 James Hilton novel Lost Horizon. This renaming, along with the county's upgrade to a county-level city on 16 December 2014, was part of an effort by the Chinese government to promote tourism in the area. The Chinese name of the county seat, Jiantang (建塘; Jiàntáng), reflects a Mandarin transliteration of Gyalthang.

## History

In the early morning of 11 January 2014, a fire broke out in the 1,000-year-old Dukezong Tibetan neighborhood. About 242 homes and shops were destroyed and 2,600 residents were displaced. About half of the old town was destroyed by the fire. Afterwards, residents were allowed back to their homes and shops. By the end of 2014 rebuilding had started and tourism started to return. Tourism was generally not affected by the fire, since the main sights in the old town, such as the prayer wheel and temples, were not damaged. Many of the other main sights are located outside of the old town.

## Demographics and languages

The southern half of the city is inhabited by the Naxi people, who speak the Naxi language, a Lolo-Burmese language separate from the Tibetic languages. The northern half is inhabited by the Khampas, who speak the southern variety of Khams Tibetan. Southwestern Mandarin is spoken by the Han Chinese throughout the city.
The ambiance of the town is distinctly Tibetan with prayer flags fluttering, mountains known by holy names, lamaseries and rocks inscribed in Tibetan language with Buddhist sutras.

## Administrative divisions

Shangri-La city has 4 towns, 6 townships and 1 ethnic township.
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Tibetan | Wylie | Administrative division code |
| Towns ||||||
| Gyalthang Town (Jiantang) | 建塘镇 | Jiàntáng zhèn | རྒྱལ་ཐང་གྲོང་རྡལ། | rgyal thang grong rdal | 533401101 |
| Yangthang Town (Xiaozhongdian) | 小中甸镇 (洋塘镇) | Xiǎozhōngdiàn zhèn | ཡང་ཐང་གྲོང་རྡལ། | yang thang grong rdal | 533401102 |
| Hutiaoxia Town | 虎跳峡镇 | Hǔtiàoxiá zhèn | | | 533401103 |
| Jinjiang Town | 金江镇 | Jīnjiāng zhèn | | | 533401104 |
| Townships ||||||
| Shangjiang Township | 上江乡 | Shàngjiāng xiāng | | | 533401201 |
| Luoji Township | 洛吉乡 | Luòjí xiāng | | | 533401203 |
| Nyishar Township (Nixi) | 尼西乡 | Níxī xiāng | ནོར་སྐྱིད་ཞང་། | nyi shar zhang | 533401204 |
| Ketsak Township (Gezan) | 格咱乡 | Gézán xiāng | སྐད་ཚག་ཤང་། | skad tshag shang | 533401205 |
| Dorwarong Township (Torwarong, Dongwang) | 东旺乡 | Dōngwàng xiāng | གཏོར་བ་རོང་ཤང་། | gtor ba rong shang | 533401206 |
| Rongpagyurnga Township (Wujing) | 五境乡 | Wǔjìng xiāng | རོང་པ་སྒྱུར་ལྔ་ཤང་། | rong pa sgyur lnga shang | 533401207 |
| Ethnic township ||||||
| Sanba Naxi Ethnic Township | 三坝纳西族乡 | Sānbà Nàxīzú xiāng | | | 533401202 |

## Climate

Shangri-La has either a dry-winter, warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dwb) using the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm, or a dry-winter subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwb) using the −3 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm, both of which are unusually cool by Yunnan standards due to the high elevation, which ranges between 2,700 and 3,500 metres (8,900 and 11,500 ft). Winters are chilly but sunny, with a 24 hour January average temperature of -2.0 °C (28.4 °F), while summers are cool, with a 24 July-hour average temperature of 13.9 °C (57.0 °F), and feature frequent rain; more than 70% of the annual precipitation is delivered from June to September. The annual mean is 6.32 °C (43.4 °F). Except during the summer, nights are usually sharply cooler than the days. Despite the dryness of the winter, the small amount of precipitation is generally sufficient to cause major transportation dislocations and isolate the area between November and March.
Climate data for Shangri-La, elevation 3,342 m (10,965 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 20.4 (68.7) | 18.2 (64.8) | 21.5 (70.7) | 22.7 (72.9) | 24.2 (75.6) | 26.0 (78.8) | 26.0 (78.8) | 25.5 (77.9) | 23.8 (74.8) | 20.9 (69.6) | 18.8 (65.8) | 17.9 (64.2) | 26.0 (78.8) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.9 (44.4) | 7.8 (46.0) | 9.9 (49.8) | 13.0 (55.4) | 16.8 (62.2) | 19.7 (67.5) | 19.4 (66.9) | 19.2 (66.6) | 17.9 (64.2) | 14.9 (58.8) | 11.6 (52.9) | 8.9 (48.0) | 13.8 (56.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −2.0 (28.4) | 0.1 (32.2) | 3.0 (37.4) | 6.1 (43.0) | 10.1 (50.2) | 13.8 (56.8) | 14.0 (57.2) | 13.5 (56.3) | 12.1 (53.8) | 7.6 (45.7) | 2.4 (36.3) | −1.1 (30.0) | 6.6 (43.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −9.2 (15.4) | −6.1 (21.0) | −2.4 (27.7) | 0.6 (33.1) | 4.6 (40.3) | 9.4 (48.9) | 10.6 (51.1) | 10.1 (50.2) | 8.5 (47.3) | 2.3 (36.1) | −4.6 (23.7) | −8.9 (16.0) | 1.2 (34.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −23.9 (−11.0) | −20.5 (−4.9) | −17.5 (0.5) | −10 (14) | −7.4 (18.7) | −2.1 (28.2) | 1.1 (34.0) | 1.0 (33.8) | −3.0 (26.6) | −11.1 (12.0) | −16.5 (2.3) | −27.4 (−17.3) | −27.4 (−17.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 12.2 (0.48) | 14.6 (0.57) | 30.6 (1.20) | 26.9 (1.06) | 44.5 (1.75) | 72.0 (2.83) | 159.9 (6.30) | 155.5 (6.12) | 80.1 (3.15) | 32.8 (1.29) | 8.7 (0.34) | 3.5 (0.14) | 641.3 (25.23) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 5.4 | 5.9 | 9.8 | 10.0 | 11.9 | 15.5 | 22.3 | 23.0 | 17.8 | 9.7 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 135.7 |
| Average snowy days | 9.4 | 11.4 | 13.2 | 4.1 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 48 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 57 | 59 | 62 | 64 | 66 | 70 | 78 | 79 | 77 | 70 | 61 | 55 | 67 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 239.3 | 208.6 | 202.1 | 184.7 | 189.9 | 150.3 | 108.1 | 120.3 | 127.7 | 189.7 | 228.3 | 253.7 | 2,202.7 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 73 | 65 | 54 | 48 | 45 | 36 | 26 | 30 | 35 | 54 | 71 | 79 | 51 |
| Source 1: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||
| Source 2: Weather China ||||||||||||||

## National park

* Pudacuo National Park, the first national park in China to meet IUCN standards, is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas World Heritage Site.

## Transport

* Shangri-La railway station on Lijiang–Shangri-La railway opened on 26 November 2023. It takes 1h 20min to reach Lijiang by train, and about 5h to the provincial capital Kunming.
* The city's airport is Diqing Shangri-La Airport. Covering an area of 225 hectares, it is one of the biggest airports in the northwest of Yunnan. There are flights to Kunming, Chengdu, Lhasa, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
* Taking a long-distance bus is also a major means to get to Shangri-La. It takes about four hours to get to Shangri-La from Lijiang by bus. Tourists who rent a car for the trip can also visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiaoxia, 虎跳峡) and the First Bend of Yangtze River on the way.
* Many travelers use the county town as a gateway into Tibet, either travelling many days overland by jeep to Lhasa, or by flying from the city's airport. However, the town itself is a tourist destination, primarily due to the nearby Gandan Sumtseling Monastery, Ganden Sumtsen Ling, 松赞林寺 Sōngzànlín Sì), Pudacuo National Park, and Tiger Leaping Gorge.
* China National Highway 214