James Hilton (novelist) the occasional Tibetan monks in saffron robes. The name "Shangri-La" has become a byword for a mythical utopia, a permanently happy land, isolated from the world. After the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, when the fact that the bombers had flown from an aircraft carrier remained highly classified, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt told the press facetiously that they had taken off from Shangri-La. The Navy subsequently gave that name to an aircraft carrier, and Roosevelt named his Maryland presidential retreat "Shangri-La". (Later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower renamed the retreat Camp David after his grandson, and that name has been used
Shangri-La Beer means "Royal plains". This ancient name is reflected in the Tibetan Pinyin name of the town of Jiantang (建塘; Jiàntáng), the county seat. Due to its location on 3300 meters above sea level, it not only boasts a breathtaking scenery, but is also home to China's cleanest air, purest mountain spring water, and organic Tibetan highland barley, which is an essential part of traditional Tibetan cuisine. In the second half of the 20th century, Shangri-La City was called Zhongdian (Chinese: 中甸 Zhōngdiàn), but was renamed Shangri-La on December 17, 2001 after the fictional land of Shangri-La in the 1933 James