Haha, alright, I'll tell. Sorry it took me so long. Unexpectedly busy day.
Anyway, Shangri-La is a purely fictional monastery or "lamasery" in the Himalayas. It's inhabitants enjoyed supernaturally long lives, so long as they stayed in the area where the monastery sat. It was from a book written by James Hilton in the 1930s called Lost Horizon. I read it when I was about middle-school age. Interestingly, I later realized that tons of people have no idea that it isn't a "real" myth or legend. People have even searched for Shangri-La, obviously to no avail.
I may have decided to conduct this little poll in the wrong place. I should have known many of you would have guessed the answer. We had seven answer correctly. Seven had never heard of it and only one believed it to be a legend of eastern culture.
Here are a few interesting links on the subject:
This first link is just a blog, but it shows that people are indeed silly enough to search for places in fiction novels.
http://cosmicvisions.blogspot.com/2009/1...ri-la.html
This one ends on a more realistic note.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc...480493.htm
If you were to ask around a bit, you are bound to find a number of people who have heard the term Shangri-La and think it is Tibet's equivalent of the Fountain of Youth or an earthly utopia. I always found this astounding. The book is not even one hundred years old. Anyway, I thought some of you mind find that a bit intriguing as well. It says a lot, if you ask me.
Anyway, Shangri-La is a purely fictional monastery or "lamasery" in the Himalayas. It's inhabitants enjoyed supernaturally long lives, so long as they stayed in the area where the monastery sat. It was from a book written by James Hilton in the 1930s called Lost Horizon. I read it when I was about middle-school age. Interestingly, I later realized that tons of people have no idea that it isn't a "real" myth or legend. People have even searched for Shangri-La, obviously to no avail.
I may have decided to conduct this little poll in the wrong place. I should have known many of you would have guessed the answer. We had seven answer correctly. Seven had never heard of it and only one believed it to be a legend of eastern culture.
Here are a few interesting links on the subject:
This first link is just a blog, but it shows that people are indeed silly enough to search for places in fiction novels.
http://cosmicvisions.blogspot.com/2009/1...ri-la.html
This one ends on a more realistic note.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc...480493.htm
If you were to ask around a bit, you are bound to find a number of people who have heard the term Shangri-La and think it is Tibet's equivalent of the Fountain of Youth or an earthly utopia. I always found this astounding. The book is not even one hundred years old. Anyway, I thought some of you mind find that a bit intriguing as well. It says a lot, if you ask me.
