Curse of the "Shangri-la complex"

Obstructed by the "Shangri-la complex", many Western scholars have opted to study Tibet's history before the 20th century. Some even suggest that the history of Tibet after 1951, when the region was peacefully liberated, is not worth studying at all. Some Western media shun the economic achievements Tibet has made.

The notion of Shangri-la, created by Westerners, has been utilized by separatists endeavoring to split Tibet from China.

"Romanticization (of Tibet) is a part of the Dalai Lama's campaign for separatism," said Narasimhan Ram, chair of Kasturi & Son Limited and publisher of the Indian newspaper The Hindu.

He said that the Dalai Lama always talks about the beauty and isolation of the old Tibet rather than its backwardness and extreme poverty, taking advantage of the "Shangri-la complex."

Matevz Raskovic, a board member of the Confucius Institute, at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, told Xinhua that some Western media's skewed depiction of Tibet has reinforced the "Shangri-la complex" which hinders and limits rational understanding of Tibet.

"When you look at Tibet the way some Westerners perceive it, it always goes to religious issues," he said. "It should be the responsibility of journalists to expose other faces of Tibet, such as tourism and the cohabitation of diverse cultures."