[Book] Lost Horizon

Yinlin Press 2011

First fictional book I decided to buy after 3 years studying in Taiwan. After learning from teacher about Tibetan literature, as well as seeing my friends pictures of visiting Tibet, I want to have more imagine about this mystery part of the world. I've got review "This book is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional Utopian lamasery high in the mountains of Tibet". And later, I've got the book on my shelf. 

It was so excited for me until finishing reading first chapter of the book. Second, third and fourth chapter comes with more and more impatient in me. Where's the description of the landscape I expected? To me, this book fail in fulfill my desire of imagine Shangri-La. It brings other social matters, and focus on people super long conversations. Shangri-La is peaceful and beautiful as a certain without describing how is it? 

Originally version of Shangri-La is so different from what I've heard and imagined. Peaceful and longevity by extended time lapse and gold and European library, complex convenient and good tasted Chinese furniture, and with a glorious Western piano? Oh yes, of course with a mountain of gold, you can have whatever you want delivered to your place in months later by incredibly strong porter teams. Means a comfortable living conditions should compact with European lifestyle. I didn't see any of local special cultural highlight. People there were super open minded that they accept their highest lama is a foreign missionary. No crying of kids, no excited expression of citizen but the wise and calm hundreds years old lama, moderated ninety years old grandpa in a forty-year-old man shape, and a docile ninety years old women in a eighteen young girl face.

The book expressed humans desire (1930's generations) to a long live and peaceful life, with bunch of knowledge. How can people show no grief for leaving a reality world? Unless they're tired of chaos world outside. Lost horizon, or lost of dream, youth, passion, knowledge, ambitious, lost of peaceful landscape. That's why it caused interested of other guys in the book to find a place. There's one sentence I quite enjoy when Conward told Lama, explain his early ripeness of calm mind. "Perhaps the exhaustion of the passions is the beginning of wisdom, if you care to alter the proverb" (pp.136). When the passion's gone, you know ways to be moderated; and start looking for a peaceful horizon...to lay down. However, can you decided to stay in that status for rest of your life? As long as you keep your mortal, no chaos. How long?