“Shangri-la. The very name is an incantation that evokes images of a mythical mountain paradise where peace reigns and life approaches perfection. Drawn from the pages of James Hilton's 1933 classic, Lost Horizon, Shangri-la has become synonymous with exotic escapism, a connotation not lost on the tourist industry.
Hilton professed that Shangri-la is not on any map, but that hasn't stopped numerous countries-Nepal, Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan, among others-from claiming to harbor the verdant Himalayan valley in the shadow of a glacier-clad peak, shaped like a pyramid. The People's Republic of China is the latest to jump on the bandwagon, announcing in 1996 that it had found Shangri-la in the mountainous Deqin prefecture of northwestern Yunnan province. Not to be outdone, Sichuan, its equally scenic neighbor to the north, has since claimed the title for its Yading Nature Reserve in the Konkaling Mountains. Its assertion is based on a 1931 National Geographic photo-essay about the area said to have inspired Hilton's tale. ” .. more.
Extracts from Time.com: « Peddling Paradise in Sichuan and Yunnan in Search of China's Shangri-la »

More to read “Konkaling - One Man's Shangri-la” by Yuan Li Published in Asian Geographic, Sept. - Nov. 2000

Joseph Rock. (1886 - 1962) who wrote the 1931 National Geographic photo-essay about Yading.

Who is Dr. Joseph Rock in Yading.net.

“..Joseph Rock's expedition in 1924. The Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, seeking to acquire bird specimens from this area, cooperated in the project. Sargent directed Rock to collect and photograph plants and the landscape along the Yellow River (Huang He) and in two mountain ranges, the Amne Machin (Jishi Shan) and the Richthofen (Qilian Shan). Rock also collected along the Yangtze River, at the Gansu-Sichuan border, in the Tebbu region of southwestern Gansu, and around the Koko Nor (Qinghai Lake) in northeastern Tibet. The three-year expedition resulted in more than 20,000 herbarium specimens, over 1,000 bird specimens, several hundred packets of seeds, 653 photographs, and a correspondence between Rock and Sargent that exceeded 300 letters and telegrams.” Copied from www.arboretum.harvard.edu

Joseph Rock's Images at Pratyaka.org.

Peter Goullart's book, Forgotten Kingdom.

James Hilton. (1900 - 1954).
«Lost Horizon» 1933.
“In Lost Horizon, Hugh Conway, a British diplomat, is skyjacked and he & his traveling companions end up in the Himalayas. Eventually they are lead to the hidden Valley of the Blue Moon and the city of Shangri-La, where folks do not age and the powers that be are collecting all of the world's knowledge and greatest artworks, so that it will be safe from the turbulent political storms of the outside world. Eventually, the high lama reveals to the diplomat that he has been chosen to take over leadership of Shangri-La and after an abortive attempt to leave (at the insistence of one of his fellow travelers), Conway returns to assume his destined place in Shangri-La. ” from bookreview in Brothersjudd.com.

Sacred Mountains.

“As the highest and most dramatic features of the natural landscape, mountains have an extraordinary power to evoke the sacred. The ethereal rise of a ridge in mist, the glint of moonlight on an icy face, a flare of gold on a distant peak - such glimpses of transcendent beauty can reveal our world as a place of unimaginable mystery and splendor. In the fierce play of natural elements that swirl about their summits -thunder, lightning, wind, and clouds -mountains also embody powerful forces beyond our control, physical expressions of an awesome reality that can overwhelm us with feelings of wonder and fear. ” -- from the Introduction of the book «Sacred Mountains of the World» by Edwin Bernbaum, University of California Press 1997.

The Sacred Mountains Program: to promote the protection of sacred sites around the world.

UNESCO holds summit on sacred Asian mountains (AFP)

Shangri-La: Filmmakers and mountaineers assault a sacred mountain.
“...two mountaineering teams on Jambeyang. Both turned back because of dangerous snow and ice conditions....there was no way they would climb the mountain. ”