Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton.In the book,"Shangri-La" is a mystical,harmonious valley,gently guided from a lamasery,enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains.Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia—a permanently happy land,isolated from the outside world.In the novel Lost Horizon,the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal,living years beyond the normal lifespan.The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient.The story of Shangri-La is based on the concept of Shambhala,a mystical city in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.