Shangri-La is a land of perpetual tranquility as described in Lost Horizon, written by English novelist James Hilton in 1933. The novel later became a craze when it was made into a Hollywood movie. Since then, Shangri-La has become a synonym for the Garden of Eden and utopia.

Kuandian county in Dandong city, Liaoning province, resembles Shangri-la in terms of its forestry and freshwater resources. In recent years, the county has developed its tourism industry. Kuandian has subsequently become a tourist hotspot in Northeast China. A well-known planning company was invited to promote Kuandian county as the "Shangri-La along the Yalu River" to boost the county's tourism industry and market competitiveness.

Kuandian is currently planning on building three tourist theme areas – resorts on Tianhua, Huabo and Qingshangou Mountains, a geologic and cultural recreation area around the Huangyi Volcano Forest Park, a tourism area around the Tiger Mountain Great Wall and the Changdian River Mouth scenic zone along Yalu River.

Kuandian is striving to develop itself into a popular tourist destination for entertainment, business and leisure.

Moreover, the county is making progress on the Tianqiaogou tourism development project with an investment of 1.8 billion yuan ($281.7 million). It is also driving the development of other large projects such as those of Huangyi Mountain Resort and Hekou International Exhibition Center.

Kuandian has co-hosted several tourism trade fairs and exhibitions in partnership with several media institutions including CCTV, China's national television station. The county has already established cooperative relationships with 21 travel agencies within and outside Liaoning province.

Furthermore, festivals such as the Peach Blossom Festival and the Drift Festival have attracted millions of tourists from home and abroad to the county. As of the end of July, Kuandian hosted 750,000 domestic and foreign tourists who contributed 780 million yuan ($122.07 million) to the local economy.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Tania Lee