Shangri-La, Yunnan

Shangri-La
香格里拉市 · སེམས་ཀྱི་ཉི་ཟླ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།
Shangri-La skyline
Dukezong
Dukezong
Location of Shangri-La (red) in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (pink) within Yunnan
Location of Shangri-La (red) in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (pink) within Yunnan
Shangri-La is located in Yunnan
Shangri-La
Shangri-La
Location of the county seat in Yunnan
Coordinates (Diqing Prefecture government): 27°50′45″N 99°44′32″E / 27.84583°N 99.74222°E / 27.84583; 99.74222
CountryChina
ProvinceYunnan
Autonomous prefectureDiqing
Municipal seatGyalthang Town
Area
 • Total11,613 km2 (4,484 sq mi)
Elevation3,160 m (10,370 ft)
Population
 (2020 census)[2]
 • Total186,412
 • Density16/km2 (42/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code
674400
Area code0887
Websitexianggelila.diqing.gov.cn
Shangri-La, Yunnan
Chinese name
Chinese香格里拉
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXiānggélǐlā
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingHoeng1gaak3lei5laai1
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōngdiān
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingZung1din6
Tibetan name
Tibetanསེམས་ཀྱི་ཉི་ཟླ།
Transcriptions
Wyliesems kyi nyi zla
Tibetan PinyinSemkyi'nyida

Shangri-La (Chinese: 香格里拉; pinyin: Xiānggélǐlā; Tibetan: སེམས་ཀྱི་ཉི་ཟླ།) is a county-level city in northwestern Yunnan province, China, named after the mythical land depicted in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon. It is the capital and largest city of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is bordered by the city of Lijiang to the south and Sichuan province to the northwest, north, and east.

Name

The city was originally a county named Zhongdian (中甸县; Zhōngdiàn Xiàn); the Tibetan population referred to the area by its traditional name Gyalthang (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་ཐང་, Wylie: rgyal thang, ZYPY: Gyaitang), meaning "royal plains". On 17 December 2001, the Chinese government renamed the county "Shangri-La", after the fictional land of Shangri-La in the 1933 James Hilton novel Lost Horizon. This renaming, along with the county's upgrade to a county-level city on 16 December 2014, was part of an effort by the Chinese government to promote tourism in the area. The Chinese name of the county seat, Jiantang (建塘; Jiàntáng), reflects a Mandarin transliteration of Gyalthang.

History

In the early morning of 11 January 2014, a fire broke out in the 1,000-year-old Dukezong Tibetan neighborhood. About 242 homes and shops were destroyed and 2,600 residents were displaced.[3] About half of the old town was destroyed by the fire. Afterwards, residents were allowed back to their homes and shops. By the end of 2014 rebuilding had started and tourism started to return. Tourism was generally not affected by the fire, since the main sights in the old town, such as the prayer wheel and temples, were not damaged. Many of the other main sights are located outside of the old town.

Demographics and languages

Annual horse-racing festival, 2 June 1995.

The southern half of the city is inhabited by the Naxi people, who speak the Naxi language, a Lolo-Burmese language separate from the Tibetic languages. The northern half is inhabited by the Khampas, who speak the southern variety of Khams Tibetan. Southwestern Mandarin is spoken by the Han Chinese throughout the city.

The ambiance of the town is distinctly Tibetan with prayer flags fluttering, mountains known by holy names, lamaseries and rocks inscribed in Tibetan language with Buddhist sutras.[4][5][6]

Administrative divisions

Shangri-La city has 4 towns, 6 townships and 1 ethnic township.[7]

Name Simplified Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Tibetan Wylie Administrative division code
Towns
Gyalthang Town
(Jiantang)
建塘镇 Jiàntáng zhèn རྒྱལ་ཐང་གྲོང་རྡལ། rgyal thang grong rdal 533401101
Yangthang Town
(Xiaozhongdian)
小中甸镇
(洋塘镇)
Xiǎozhōngdiàn zhèn ཡང་ཐང་གྲོང་རྡལ། yang thang grong rdal 533401102
Hutiaoxia Town 虎跳峡镇 Hǔtiàoxiá zhèn 533401103
Jinjiang Town 金江镇 Jīnjiāng zhèn 533401104
Townships
Shangjiang Township 上江乡 Shàngjiāng xiāng 533401201
Luoji Township 洛吉乡 Luòjí xiāng 533401203
Nyishar Township
(Nixi)
尼西乡 Níxī xiāng ནོར་སྐྱིད་ཞང་། nyi shar zhang 533401204
Ketsak Township
(Gezan)
格咱乡 Gézán xiāng སྐད་ཚག་ཤང་། skad tshag shang 533401205
Dorwarong Township
(Torwarong, Dongwang)
东旺乡 Dōngwàng xiāng གཏོར་བ་རོང་ཤང་། gtor ba rong shang 533401206
Rongpagyurnga Township
(Wujing)
五境乡 Wǔjìng xiāng རོང་པ་སྒྱུར་ལྔ་ཤང་། rong pa sgyur lnga shang 533401207
Ethnic township
Sanba Naxi Ethnic Township 三坝纳西族乡 Sānbà Nàxīzú xiāng 533401202

Climate

Shangri-La has either a dry-winter, warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dwb) using the isotherm or a dry-winter subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwb) using the −3 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm, both of which are unusually cool by Yunnan standards due to the high elevation, which ranges between 2,700 and 3,500 metres (8,900 and 11,500 ft). Winters are chilly but sunny, with a 24 January-hour average temperature of, while summers are cool, with a 24 July-hour average temperature of 13.9 °C (57.0 °F), and feature frequent rain; more than 70% of the annual precipitation is delivered from June to September. The annual mean is 6.32 °C (43.4 °F). Except during the summer, nights are usually sharply cooler than the days. Despite the dryness of the winter, the small amount of precipitation is generally sufficient to cause major transportation dislocations and isolate the area between November and March.

Climate data for Shangri-La, elevation 3,342 m (10,965 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 20.4
(68.7)
18.2
(64.8)
21.5
(70.7)
22.7
(72.9)
24.2
(75.6)
26.0
(78.8)
26.0
(78.8)
25.5
(77.9)
23.8
(74.8)
20.9
(69.6)
18.8
(65.8)
17.9
(64.2)
26.0
(78.8)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 6.9
(44.4)
7.8
(46.0)
9.9
(49.8)
13.0
(55.4)
16.8
(62.2)
19.7
(67.5)
19.4
(66.9)
19.2
(66.6)
17.9
(64.2)
14.9
(58.8)
11.6
(52.9)
8.9
(48.0)
13.8
(56.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) −2.0
(28.4)
0.1
(32.2)
3.0
(37.4)
6.1
(43.0)
10.1
(50.2)
13.8
(56.8)
14.0
(57.2)
13.5
(56.3)
12.1
(53.8)
7.6
(45.7)
2.4
(36.3)
−1.1
(30.0)
6.6
(43.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −9.2
(15.4)
−6.1
(21.0)
−2.4
(27.7)
0.6
(33.1)
4.6
(40.3)
9.4
(48.9)
10.6
(51.1)
10.1
(50.2)
8.5
(47.3)
2.3
(36.1)
−4.6
(23.7)
−8.9
(16.0)
1.2
(34.2)
Record low °C (°F) −23.9
(−11.0)
−20.5
(−4.9)
−17.5
(0.5)
−10
(14)
−7.4
(18.7)
−2.1
(28.2)
1.1
(34.0)
1.0
(33.8)
−3.0
(26.6)
−11.1
(12.0)
−16.5
(2.3)
−27.4
(−17.3)
−27.4
(−17.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 12.2
(0.48)
14.6
(0.57)
30.6
(1.20)
26.9
(1.06)
44.5
(1.75)
72.0
(2.83)
159.9
(6.30)
155.5
(6.12)
80.1
(3.15)
32.8
(1.29)
8.7
(0.34)
3.5
(0.14)
641.3
(25.23)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 5.4 5.9 9.8 10.0 11.9 15.5 22.3 23.0 17.8 9.7 2.7 1.7 135.7
Average snowy days 9.4 11.4 13.2 4.1 0.3 0 0 0 0.2 0.6 4.0 4.8 48
Average relative humidity (%) 57 59 62 64 66 70 78 79 77 70 61 55 67
Mean monthly sunshine hours 239.3 208.6 202.1 184.7 189.9 150.3 108.1 120.3 127.7 189.7 228.3 253.7 2,202.7
Percent possible sunshine 73 65 54 48 45 36 26 30 35 54 71 79 51
Source 1: China Meteorological Administration[8][9]
Source 2: Weather China[10]

National park

View of the old town of Shangri-La
Gandan Sumtseling Monastery

Transport

Shangri-La railway station before operation (September 2023)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Shangri-La (Xiānggélǐlā 香格里拉), chef-lieu de la préfecture autonome tibétaine de Diqing, Yunnan (Yúnnán 云南)". channaryetfrancoisashanghai.net (in French). Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  2. ^ "迪庆州第七次全国人口普查主要数据公报" (in Chinese). Government of Diqing Prefecture. 27 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Night fire burns for hours, destroys ancient Tibetan town in southwest China's Shangri-La county". Toledo Blade. 11 January 2014.
  4. ^ Reilly, James O'; Sean O'Reilly; Larry Habegger James (2004). Travelers' Tales China: True Stories. Travelers' Tales. p. 162. ISBN 1-932361-07-3. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  5. ^ Mansfield, Stephen; Martin Walters (2007). China: Yunnan Province. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-1-84162-169-2. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
  6. ^ "Shangri-La, Ganden Sumtseling Monastery". Virtual Tourist. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
  7. ^ "国家统计局" (in Chinese). National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  8. ^ 1981–2010 extremes 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  9. ^ 1991–2020 normals "Climate averages from 1991 to 2020". China Meteorological Administration. 24 April 2023. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023.
  10. ^ 1971–2000 extremes 香格里拉 – 气象数据 -中国天气网 (in Chinese). Weather China. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  11. ^ "丽香铁路 11月26日开通运营". 丽江至香格里拉铁路(以下简称丽香铁路)将于11月26日建成通车
  12. ^ "丽香铁路通车 动车直达"吉祥如意的地方". Xinhua. 26 November 2023.
  13. ^ "Shangri-la Transportation" ChinaTour.net Accessed 9 May 2014

Further reading