looking for the real shangri-la

In the far east of Qinghai Tibet Plateau, there is a beautiful place, which is called Shangbala, where the real dreamlike Shangri-la is located.Step into Shangri-la, you will have a eye feast of the Oriental Alps---Four ladies Mountain, the Tibetan hamlets of Jiarong Tibetan group in Danba, Beauty Valley, Tagong Great Grassland--the paradise for photographers, the sacred Mountains and lakes in Yading, the shinning Bita Sea, the grandeur Tiger-jumping Gorges, the fantastic Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and the towering Diaos--the special lodgings for Tibetans and Qiang people, the splendid Tibetan Buddhist Temples, the ancient Sifang Square Street in Lijiang.
About Shangri-la
"Shangrila" is a French word which means the heaven or the place the God live. But that it is connected with Tibet is because of American Geologist Doctor Joseph . Lork and Britain writer James.Hilton . Doctor Joseph F.Rock had lived in south-western China for 27 years .He was deep in the study of the culture and geography of these area during his long standing research in the remote villages and primeval forest . Later he returned America and published serial reports about south-western China , which amazed the western world by the mysterial culture of the minority and the beautiful nature in this land .He gave this place a name as Shingri-la . Influenced by Lork 's report, in 1933 British writer James ., Hilton wrote a book named " The lost Horizon ", which was about Shingri-la . In the book , a terrible riots broke out in a Middle Asia country and 4 westerners boarded a plane in order to flee . But unfortunately , their plane was hijacked and it landed in a place they didn't know the name but in some Tibetan area in the Himalayan mountain ranges. In this land there were pyramid-shaped snow peaks , green-jade like lakes in high land , grand and pretty monastery and kind , pure people .They gave it a name of Shingri-la . Since the tale of the " The lost Horizon ", Shingrila became popular all over the world and more and more people desire to have a adventure in these area to look for the petty land described in the book . And the argument of where is the right place described in the book also started . Some of the people say it lay in Daocheng of Sichuan province, other people think it lay in Zhongdian of Yunnan province. But we think it should not refer some specifically place . Actually it means the join of Daocheng ,Muli ( in Sichuan province ), Lijiang, Zhongdian (in Yunnan province.). For these places have the features that described in both of Hillton's tales and Nike's serial report.
Brief description of Daocheng
Daocheng was anciently named "Daoba," meaning the openn place of the valley in Tibetan language. It didn't acquire its name till in 17th century , the people succeeded planting rice. They gave the name "Daocheng", meaning the place produce rice . Daocheng is located in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in eastern Tibetan--Qinghai plateau, nauboured with Muli county in south-east , Zhongdian county of Yunnan province in west, Litang county in north.. It covered 7323 square kilometers with the highest altitude of 6032 meters and lowest altitude of 2000 meters. The altitude of the town is 3740 meters, with 30,000 people in population, and Tibetan people take more than 96% of the whole population. And the Han,Naxi, Hui, Yi nationality etc take the rest portion. Daocheng are abundant in natural resource: wild animal, Chinese medicinal herbs, plant resource , among them many animal and plants are state protected .. The Haizishan Nature Reserve is located in the north of Daocheng , where is widen and endless with strange stones, alpine lake scatter everywhere. Nature scenery are abundant and beautiful. And there are a lot of temples in the middle of Haizi mountain, so the religion culture is profound here and folk custom is special. The Nubuchaka hot spring is just 4 kilometers from the county got the good fame all over the world. The highland scenery is bizzard. It is a good place to enjoy the nature and biology and alpine scenery. Within this place the altitude is from 2900meters to 6023meters which cover 840,000mu in area. The three snow covered mountains of Xiannairi,Yangmaiyong, Xialuoduoji were called as "Risonggongbu" in Tibetan Buddhism , which integrated with sacred mountains and holly lakes are called as one sacred place in Tibet area. So most of the nature fan experts call Daocheng as the "shangrila in the tale".

Yueyang -- Lakeside City

Yueyang Tower
Built over the west city gate of Yueyang, this tower overlooks the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake. It is one of China?s "three great towers south of the Yangtze River." During the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), it was used as a reviewing stand by General Lu Su of the State of Wu when he trained his navy. But it was Fan Zhongyan (989-1052), a noted scholar of the Song dynasty, who made the building famous when he wrote his masterpiece, Notes on Yueyang Tower. The three-level wooden structure is almost twenty meters high, with upturned eaves. At each side of the tower, there is an elegantly structured pavilion  one is called Drunk Three Times Pavilion (Sanzuiting) and the other Celestial plums Pavilion (Xianmeiting).




Dongting Lake
Dongting Lake, China's second-largest freshwater lake, is located in northeastern Hunan Province. It is a large, shallow body of water surrounded by mountain chains. It is also known as 'eight- hundred Li Dong Ting Lake' (The Li is a Chinese length unit equal to 500 meters or about 1,640 feet). An impressive characteristic of the lake is it is inter-nested. Depending on the season, concentric ridges of land appear in the lake in many areas. This is because the lake acts as a flood basin for the Yangtze River. The appearance of Dongting Lake changes throughout the different seasons, sometimes even during the same day. Many ancient Chinese poems and stories were written about the beauty of Dongting Lake.
The climate of Dongting Lake is between middle and northern subtropical, so it is warm and humid, but there is also a 'draught window' from which cold air from the north sometimes enters. So in spring and summer, the temperature is variable, while in late summer and autumn, it's sunny and hot with a little rain. Occasionally in autumn, it's a little bit cold and windy. The area around the lake has tremendous agricultural production ability with a long history of development. Since the plain is graced with fertile soil, proper temperature and plentiful rain, Dongting Lake is also called 'a land flowing with milk and honey'.
Four streams including the Xiangjiang River, the Zishui River, the Yuanjiang River, and the Lishui River, all flow into Dongting Lake, and the lake is sometimes known as 'the holder of the four streams'. Because Dongting Lake acts as a tremendous natural reservoir or flood-basin, it plays an important role in adjusting the flow of the Yangtze River The Lake is sometimes known as 'the taker and sender of the Yangtze River'.