Shangri-La was formerly called Zhongdian County (中甸县; Zhōngdiàn Xiàn) but was renamed on 17 December 2001 and upgraded into a county-level city on 16 December 2014 as Shangri-La (other spellings: Semkyi'nyida, Xianggelila, or Xamgyi'nyilha) after the fictional land of Shangri-La in the 1933 James Hilton novel Lost Horizon, in an effort to promote tourism in the area. Formerly, the Tibetan population referred to the city by its traditional name Gyalthang or Gyaitang (Standard Tibetan: རྒྱལ་ཐང།; Wylie: rgyal thang, ZWPY: Gyaitang), meaning "Royal plains". The Chinese name of the county seat, Jiantang (建塘; Jiàntáng), reflects the pronunciation of Gyalthang.
In the early morning of January 11, 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.[2]
About half of the old town was destroyed by the fire, half was spared. After the fire residents were allowed back to their homes and shops. By the end of 2014 rebuilding had started and tourism started to come back. Generally tourism was 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.
Shangri-La has either a dry-winter, warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dwb), or a dry-winter subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwb), 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 January 24-hour average temperature of −2.3 °C (27.9 °F), while summers are cool, with a July 24-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 (1981–2010 normals, extremes 1971–2010)
Since there is no railway available in Shangri-la, taking a long-distance bus is also a major means to get to Shangri-la besides flight. It takes about four hours to get to Shangri-la from Lijiang by bus. Tourists who rent a car for the trip can also visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge and the First Bend of Yangtze River on the way.[6] The Lijiang–Shangri-La railway is under construction and estimated to be completed in 2020.
Many travelers use the county town as a gateway into Tibet, either travelling many days overland by jeep to Lhasa, or by flying from the city's airport. However, the town itself is a tourist destination, primarily due to the nearby Gandan Sumtseling Monastery, Ganden Sumtsen Ling, 松赞林寺Sōngzànlín Sì), Pudacuo National Park, and Tiger Leaping Gorge.
