In Search of Shangri-La
10 December 2020
My final visit to a place with a sister city relationship with an Australian city before the completion of my posting was the famously named Shangri-La. Located in Yunnan’s Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Shangri-La takes its name from the mystical utopia in James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon, which captured the imagination of the West in the 1930s and 40s. (see here)
Located just outside Shangri-La City, the Ganden Sumtsenling or Songzanlin Monastery was originally built in 1679. It is the most important Tibetan Buddhist monastery in southwest China and is often referred to as the Little Potala Palace. Credit: DFAT
The Shangri-La of Hilton’s fame was a fictional paradise hidden in the Himalayas. It was exquisitely beautiful and perfect in every way. Its society was peaceful, harmonious and needed no police or government. Sophisticated culture, arts and science flourished. In splendid isolation amidst pure air, the people were unencumbered by earthly pressures, hence were able to live long lives without aging visibly.
Shangri-La’s distinctly Tibetan character can be seen in its daily fresh produce market where Tibetan staples such as yak butter, yak milk and yoghurt, highland barley, and caterpillar fungus are sold. Credit: DFAT
But this was fiction. The real Shangri-La I visited was formerly named Zhongdian County (中甸县) but in an effort to promote tourism, was renamed in 2001 and upgraded to a county-level city three years later. Local Tibetans still refer to the city by its traditional name Gyalthang (རྒྱལ་ཐང།; meaning "Royal Plains"). This ancient name is reflected in the Tibetan Pinyin name within the town of Jiantang (建塘), the city seat.
Within Shangri-La is the old town of Dukezong ("Town of the moon" in Tibetan), built during the Tang Dynasty in the 7th Century. It became a key hub on the old Tea Horse Road. Most of the town was destroyed in a major fire in 2014 but has since been reconstructed. Credit: DFAT
Shangri-La’s Australian sister city is the Shire of Campaspe, which includes the towns of Girgarre, Echuca, Kyabram, Rochester, Tongala and Rushworth in Victoria. Established in 2008, the sister city relationship is one of only three that the Shire has formed. It is also the only sister city relationship that Australia has with a predominantly ethnic Tibetan city. There have been regular exchanges of visits, such as when Shangri-La leaders visiting Campaspe in 2016, and a return visit by a Campaspe delegation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Diqing prefecture.
Another fascinating fact is that many years ago, four cities in regional Victoria – Mildura, Campaspe, Shepparton and Horsham – formed sister cities with four Yunnan cities – Dali, Shangri-La, Lijiang, and Nujiang – respectively to build mutual understanding between regional areas of Victoria and Yunnan.
I met Tibetan students at a middle school in Shangri-La and gave a brief introduction about Australia’s multicultural society. Credit: DFAT
Apart from their distant locations, the two sister cities’ topography, look and feel couldn’t be more different. Shangri-La is tucked away in rugged Hengduan mountain range at an elevation of 3200 metres, while Echuca in Campaspe Shire is on fertile flat land at an elevation of just 96 metres. Shangri-La’s sub-tropical highland climate contrasts against Echuca’s semi-arid Mediterranean conditions. The primary concern for visitors to Shangri-La is altitude sickness, while visitors to Campaspe Shire need to be mindful of the effects of sun exposure and heat stroke.
Even though considered far-flung by many outsiders, both Shangri-La and Campaspe have always enjoyed regional connections. Both have rivers as their lifeline to the rest of the world with natural, water, cultural and agriculture resources that turn them into important tourism destinations.
Dukezong’s main square is transformed into a group dancing arena in the early evening. Credit: DFAT
Shangri-La was a trading hub on the Old Tea-Horse Road, a centuries-old network of routes that originated in Sichuan, crossed into Yunnan and radiated out to Tibet, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Sometimes known as the Southern Silk Road, the network enabled tea, silk, horses, salt and other commodities to be traded. At the same time, the Tea Horse Road was an important conduit for the spread of Buddhism across the region.
The Tea Horse Road brought together the diverse people of the region, hence Shangri-La’s population today isn’t just a Tibetan-majority. The combined percentage of the Lisu, Naxi, Bai and Yi people is over 50 per cent of the community. Previously difficult to reach, transportation is today much easier with major investment in infrastructure, which promised further interconnectivity. The city’s airport is slated to soon permit international flights, a key highway to Lijiang is under construction, as is a railway line connecting Shangri-La with other interprovincial cities.
Far from being a paradise in splendid isolation as portrayed in Lost Horizon, Shangri-La city in Yunnan has good linkages which will only continue to improve with time. Shangri-La’s longstanding sister city connection with the Shire of Campaspe epitomises the deep commitment of both cities to deepen friendship across the mountains, seas and outback, thereby building mutual understanding between this exceptional set of sister cities.
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