![]() The country enjoys diplomatic relations with only a handful of nations, an honor that does not extend to the world's superpower, which must conduct what little business it has with Bhutan through the U.S. ![]() Men wear the gho, a kind of knee-length robe, and women wear a full-length dress called the kira. The Bhutanese, who are required by law to wear national dress in most public settings, even look like they belong in another century. ![]() Television and the Internet did not reach Bhutan until 1999 and even today do not extend to every corner of this poor, largely agrarian country. If there is a modern-day Shangri-La, Bhutan is it.īhutan's isolation is more than geographic and applies to many other aspects of life there. Hilton's mythical Shangri-La is a remote Himalayan valley home to perpetually happy people.Įnter Bhutan, a tiny country wedged between China and India and famous for a national philosophy of "gross national happiness." Unlike gross national product, gross national happiness is based more on Buddhist spiritual values and cultural traditions than on modern measures of economic success. There have been many contenders for the real-life location of Shangri-La, the fictional utopia of James Hilton's 1933 novel, Lost Horizon. ![]()
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