Xiānggélǐlā (香格里拉), or Shangri-la was named after the fictional land depicted in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon that was written by James Hilton.

It is the capital and largest city of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and it is bordered by the city of Lijiang (丽江) to the south.

Shangri-la was originally called Zhōngdiàn Xiàn (中甸县), but the Chinese government changed the city's name in 2001, in an effort to promote tourism to the area.

There is a beautiful Monastery in Shangri-la. Not far from town is the Pudacuo National Park, which is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas World Heritage Site.

Shangri-la is in the south of Cina, about 2,080 km southwest of Beijing.