LIJIANG, China -- The mystical land of Shangri-La, lost and found in recent years, has moved. It has also upgraded its attractions. This eastern Utopia still offers the tea shops, Tibetan lamas and snow-capped peaks of James Hilton's 1933 bestseller "Lost Horizon," but today's pilgrims can also sample Internet cafes, pizza and cable cars.
Much of the credit or blame falls to former political prisoner Xuan Ke, a 71-year-old musician who first "discovered" the novel was set in southwest China. Six years ago, he pinpointed Shangri-La in his mother's native Diqing Tibet Autonomous Prefecture. Today Xuan places Utopia in his own hometown of Lijiang, over 190 km to the south.
"I've changed my story because the authorities didn't give me enough credit," he explains. "Without me, they would not have the slightest idea about Shangri-La!" Written in Woodford Green, northeast London, Hilton's tale of an escape to paradise has for decades captured imaginations worldwide. But until Xuan made the connection, nobody in China's Yunnan Province realized they were sitting on a gold mine of Western fantasy.