Shangri-La, Ganden Sumtseling Gompa
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country, which borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar (Burma). Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the 46 million population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the mountain peaks to river valleys as much as 3,000 metres. As with other parts of China's southwest, Japanese occupation in the north during World War II forced a migration of majority Han people into the region. Ethnic minorities in Yunnan account for about 34 percent of its total population. Major ethnic groups include Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai and Miao. The Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery situated 5 kilometres from the city of Zhongdian at elevation 3,380 metres in the Yunnan province. Built in 1679, the monastery is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan province and is sometimes referred to as the “Little Potala Palace”. It belongs to the Gelukpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The Fifth Dalai Lama's Buddhist visionary zeal established the monastery in Zhongdian, in 1679. Its architecture is a fusion of the Tibetan and Han Chinese. It was extensively damaged in the Cultural Revolution and subsequently rebuilt in 1983; at its peak, the monastery contained accommodation for 2000 monks; it currently accommodates in its rebuilt structures 700 monks in 200 associated houses. Because of the popularity of James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon (novel) (1933), which introduced Shangri-La and is said have been written on an inspirational theme of "the Tibetan Buddhist Scriptures, where human beings, animals, and nature lived in harmony under the rule of a Tibetan", the Chinese authorities changed the name of Zhongdian County to Shangri-La County in 2001, to encourage tourism.
Size: 4187px × 2780px
Location: Yunnan, China
Photo credit: © François-Olivier Dommergues / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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