Lijiang: Horizon never lost

Lijiang boasts the Yulong Snow Mountains, Dongba culture and the Old Town of Lijiang, which attract a large number of tourists. Many say that there is no city in China like Lijiang that can immediately make people want to stay upon their first visit.

In 1933, an English writer named James Hilton published a novel called Lost Horizon, expressing his great interest in the oriental part of the world. In this novel, Hilton invented the term "Shangri-La", where there are flowers, fresh air, beautiful scenery and people all live happily.

Hilton never came to China by himself and all of his ideas and inspirations came from the articles and photos by Joseph Rock in National Geographic magazine. Joseph Rock was an Austrian-American botanist and ethnologist, and he explored China's southwestern provinces during his life. He said that he would like to die in the flowers of the Yulong Snow Mountains. People can easily speculate that Lijiang was just the inspiration for Shangri-La.

Lijiang has not been affected by modernization and industrialization, and there is no noisy transportation. People can find tranquility in Lijiang. Lijiang has been regarded as a spiritual paradise for Chinese people.