Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The anthropologist Guo Jiaji has suggested that we might think of the myriad people liv-
ing in the Lancang basin as distinct “ecocultures [
shengtai wenhua
],” shaped by long-term
adaptation to diverse environments and using a wide set of biological resources for surviv-
al (2008:96-118). This is an apt view, given the diversity between highland and lowland
peopleinthewatershed,alongtheriver'snorth-southaxis.FromthehighlandsoftheQing-
hai-Tibet Plateau—a region that was historically known as Kham, the southeastern extent
of the Tibetan culture area—through the middle reaches that support pastoral and agricul-
tural livelihoods to the broad valleys downstream where villagers produce tea, tobacco, and
rubber, the Lancang is the lifeblood of a diverse assemblage of cultural activities, liveli-
hood strategies, and economies.
In addition to its economic and commercial allure, the northwest corner of Yunnan has
long been an object of aesthetic wonder and even spiritual fascination for Western ex-
plorers and missionaries. Zhongdian County, in the northwest corner of Yunnan, was re-
named Shangri-La (Xianggelila in Chinese) in 2002 as part of a government program to
promote tourism development. The name derives from the famous James Hilton novel of
the 1930s,
Lost Horizon
, in which a British diplomatic services officer, stranded after an
airplane crash, finds inner peace and eternal youth in a Buddhist lamasery located on the
Tibetan frontier. Among Shangri-La aficionados, some controversy remains about the nov-
el's precise setting and about what location therefore constitutes the “real” Shangri-La,
which may in fact be entirely fictional. Nevertheless, the notion of a unique and strikingly
beautiful landscape inhabited by people from exotic and poorly understood cultural groups
has become a powerful mythology, attracting tourism revenue from foreign and Chinese
travelers alike (Litzinger 2004; Hillman 2003).
Scientific discovery also played a prominent role in the West's understanding of this
cornerofYunnan.NorthwestYunnanandtheTibetanfrontierwerethestompinggroundsof
Francis KingdonWard,anEnglish botanist andexplorer whomounted many expeditions in
the region over a span of nearly fifty years beginning in the early 1900s. He came in search
of floral specimens and seeds to carry with him back to England, and dozens of local plant
species still bear his name. His writings provide some of the earliest accounts of Western
exploration in northwest Yunnan. The Hengduan Mountains form a series of high divides
between the watersheds of the Jinsha, Lancang, and Nu Rivers. A keen observer, Ward
noted the significant differences in precipitation, flora, and fauna between these water-
sheds. In a topic entitled
Mystery Rivers of Tibet
, Ward recounts his journey of 1913 over-
land from Zhongdian and westward to the upper reaches of the Lancang: “We camped that
night at 13,000 feet amidst patches of melting snow and frozen-looking Rhododendrons,
where tortured larch trees wrestled to the death with the inhospitable climate. On June 2nd
we crossed a pass and reached the rolling plateau at the top of the Yangtze-Mekong divide.
