Shangri-la: rebuilding a myth 1 Ben Hillman Old Town Burning On 11 January 2014, I received a call from a foreign correspondent in Beijing. ‘Did you hear the news,’ he asked? ‘What news?’ ‘Shangri-la’s old town is burning.’ I hadn’t heard, but I told I’d get back to him as soon as I found out more. I called a Tibetan friend in the town. ‘Is it true?’ I asked, ‘Is the old town on fire?’ ‘Yes, it’s been burning all night … the town’s water tanks were empty so we had to wait for fire fighters to come from Lijiang. They didn’t get here until the morning.’ ‘Was anyone hurt?’ ‘No, I don’t think so, but half the town is gone.’ ‘My God, how did this happen?’ ‘We don’t know, but people are very angry. The army blockaded the old town and wouldn’t let anyone in to rescue their belongings. I have to go now … call back later.’ I hung up and searched for more information. Reports and images were already trickling in from the wires. Photos showed that the old town was still burning. Headlines told the story: ‘1300 year-old Tibetan Town Destroyed by Fire’. I spoke again with the foreign correspondent. ‘How bad is it?’ ‘It looks pretty bad,’ I said, ‘The fire burned for ten hours. Hundreds of buildings have been destroyed. Miraculously, though, it seems no one was hurt.’ ‘Right, but all those old Tibetan buildings … what a tragedy!’ Remembering Shangri-la’s Old Town I first visited Shangri-la in 1999. Back then the unremarkable county town was more humbly known as Zhongdian 中甸, or rGyal-thang rDzong !ལ་ཐང་&ོང་ 1 Originally published in The China Story Journal (9 November 2015).