According to the Tourism Administration of Sichuan, the province will officially begin construction of the Shangri-La ecological tourism area in West Sichuan Province this year, developing it into an international tourism resort in three to five years.

The three provincial governments of Sichuan, Yunan and Tibet jointly released a cooperative declaration in Chengdu at the end of last year claiming that they would meet administrative and geologic restrictions in order to roll out a world-class tourist's 'Pan Shangri-La.' The declaration indicated that the construction of the 'Pan Shangri-La' tourism area had entered its developmental phase.

'Shangri-La' is transliterated from Tibetan words meaning, 'bright moon in one's heart' and 'pure land.' Its worldwide reputation owes much to the best selling book 'Lost Horizon,' written by James Hilton in the 1930s. The 'Pan Shangri-La' ecological tourism area roughly consists of nine autonomous city-prefectures and eighty-two counties located in southwestern Sichuan, northwestern Yunan and southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region. 

2005/03/15
Source: Chinanews.cn