Shangrila: Tea Road to Lhasa (intro part2of2)

Shangrila: Tea Road to Lhasa (intro part2of2)
www.eastmeetswestfilm.com/episode6
Coming soon! Episode 6 of our @eastmeetswestfilm docuseries
Journeys along the Silk Road w NatGeo’s @yamashitaphoto
SHANGRI-LA AND THE SEARCH FOR PARADISE.
SHANGRI-LA is known today as a remote, imaginary place where life approaches perfection.
The Kingdom of Shangri-La was a fictitious Utopia conceived by author James Hilton in his 1933 novel, Lost Horizon.
But what was Hilton's inspiration for this idyllic, exotic haven of beauty and tranquility?
Many believe it was life here in the Himalayan mountains of Tibet and Western China.
The area's beauty and remoteness, the complex rituals of its unique form of Buddhism, the ruggedness of its people who live at dizzying altitudes - all contribute to the mystery. It seems a land apart from Time.
In search of this paradise, National Geographic's award winning photographer Michael Yamashita set out to capture the ancient trade route in this region known as the Tea Horse Road, or as the Chinese call it, Chamagudao.
This legendary road began over 2500 years ago. Back when Chinese merchants traded tea to Tibetans in exchange for horses, which China needed to defend against Mongol invaders from the north.
This trade route winds through dizzying mountain passes, across famed rivers like the Mekong and the Yangtze, and past monasteries and meadows in a circuitous route from Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces in western China to the Tibetan capital city of Lhasa.
The Tea Horse Road is actually a network of roads, trails and highways, rather than one distinct route. It once stretched for almost 1400 miles (2350 km) - a conduit along which the historic trade between the mighty Chinese empire and the nomadic Tibetans linked remote villages and ethnic groups.
Today, as Chinese culture merges with, and even absorbs Tibetan traditions, the Tea Horse Road is a relic of a vastly different time. The Chinese are rapidly paving dirt roads to make highways for cars and trucks. Soon there will be little evidence of this once vital trade route.
Though horses are no longer a military imperative for the Chinese army, Tibet has a new commodity that is in much demand in China. A homely caterpillar infected by a parasitic fungus has replaced the horse trade in Tibet. The yards gumbo is prized for its medicinal qualities. Now Tibetan nomads drive Land Cruisers and motorcycles instead of horses, thanks to the profits they make collecting and selling the miracle mushroom worth more than gold. So trade continues, even though relics of the tea-horse trade are becoming harder to find.
Guided by National's Geographic master photographer Michael Yamashita, and his definitive book, SHANGRILA: ALONG THE TEA HORSE ROAD TO LHASA, get ready for a rare intimate look into the changing world of Tibet. A world both ancient and modern, sacred and commonplace, the rarefied and the gritty - before the legends and mysteries of the Tea Horse Road disappear into the Tibetan mist.
Join us now on a journey to Shangrila, and hear the stories behind the stills, with Michael Yamashita, in his own words and through his mind’s eye.

[@michaklotz4786]

Wow, still a magical hidden gem.

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