Shangri-La in the early morning, the sun is shining and the sky is like a wash.
Located in the courtyard of the Songzan Green Valley Hotel, located between Songzanlin Temple and Kena Village, there is an indescribable fragrance. The wind, one tight and one slow, came over, like the sound of bamboo pipes, tall birch and yellow oak trees standing in a corner of the yard, old leaves dancing with the wind, swirling and falling, illuminated by the sun, revealing a dazzling golden or ochre red. In the courtyard there is a beautiful four-storey house.
This is where Baima Dorji was born and raised. Today, it is one of the most well-known boutique hotels in China.
Baima, who had only returned from a business trip the night before, had a somewhat haggard look, but it did not affect the characteristics of the tall Khampa man—calm, gentle in tone, and serene in appearance, as if it could not withstand the ripples of the pool. Does this peace come from inner peace, or is it due to character?
Baima's management team has a variety of backgrounds, including local villagers, foreign executives, and professionals who have been engaged in hotel management for many years. But everyone felt that Baima was the boss, but also their teacher and elder. "He taught us that the easiest way to be happy is to give, to treat our guests with compassion and tolerance." Ah Zhen, the manager of Songzan Green Valley, said, "He thinks of others everywhere, cares about every guest, every employee, and the family of our employees." ”
The Tibetan cultural complex that cannot be abandoned
In the hotel industry, Songzan is a "latecomer".
After graduating from high school, Baima went to a livestock school in Kunming. After graduation, he returned to his hometown to work as a veterinarian for two years. Later, hearing that a local television station was to be set up, Baima switched to studying television program production. During his internship at Yunnan Television, he was given the opportunity to study at the Beijing Film Academy. When they arrived in Beijing, Baima found that many mainlanders did not know much about Tibetan culture, and even misunderstood it. "At that time, many people's impression of Tibetan areas was that of snow-capped eagles, and the impression of Tibetans was relatively rough. But the Tibetans I know are not like this, they are very subtle, and even a little introverted. ”
In 1992, CCTV recruited talents. Baima felt that perhaps a bridge could be built through the platform of television. "I want to make more and more mainlanders really understand Tibetan culture through my own efforts, because we are a family."
After joining CCTV, Baima has successively produced some documentaries showing Tibetan culture, which have received good reviews. Among them, his self-directed documentary "Portrait of the Mountain" in 1998 won the Excellence Award at the Cannes Television Festival in France.
During the CCTV period, Baima studied while working and had more and more insights. "There's a lot of wonderful stuff in all cultures. By studying, you will find that it will exercise your heart and make your heart strong. When you can manage your mind, you will have your own understanding of many things, and in the process, you will develop wisdom. ”
Baima came up with the intention of making a platform for herself. "At that time, I thought that if there was such a platform, Tibetan culture could be shared with more people, and there would be more understanding between ethnic groups." A family can live more harmoniously under the same roof. ”
At that time, every time a colleague returned to Beijing from Diqing, Yunnan Province, he would complain to Baima that everything was good in this paradise, that is, the accommodation conditions were too poor. Hearing this, Baima remembered that there were many exquisite small hotels in Paris, France. When he went to the TV festival, he stayed at a house near the Arc de Triomphe. Thinking of his home in the village of Kerna, he thought of opening a sophisticated hotel. At that time, his family had two courtyards, a courtyard for his parents, and a courtyard for his sister and brother-in-law, covering an area of about 1,000 square meters.
In 2001, Baima demolished her house and began her dream with 60,000 yuan in cash. He built the Songzan Green Valley Hotel, a total of 22 rooms. In the same year, his hometown of Zhongdian County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, was renamed "Shangri-La County".
Experience Tibetan culture in Songtsam
The first manager of Songzan Green Valley Hotel was found by Baima from Kunming through a friend, and he had experience in running a four-star hotel. But the two men had a lot of conflicts over the positioning of the hotel. "I wanted to be a quiet and cultural hotel, not a bustling one." At the beginning of the business, the hotel operation has not improved, and the cash flow is negative. After that, Baima invited Germans, Austrians, and Xi'an people from China, but none of them could get Songzan Green Valley on the right track. At that time, the hotel even had days when group meals were only sold for 11 yuan per person and 80 yuan for a room.
In 2003, Baima decided to take over the management of the hotel herself. He lives in the hotel, communicates with employees every day, gives them training, lets them calm down, keep pace, and follow Songzan's development. After that, Baima invited the current hotel manager Zhang Min. Thanks to their joint efforts, the hotel has finally adjusted to good condition. They also hired local staff who knew the local culture to introduce their guests to the tibetan religion, culture, and history. "I hope that guests can feel a sense of affinity for Tibetan culture and a natural way of life in the hotel."
Gradually, although the house prices of Songzan Green Valley are gradually rising, there are more and more customers. There are many self-guided tour guests, originally to leave their luggage elsewhere, but after staying in Songzan Green Valley for one night, they pulled their luggage to Shangri-La and then stayed here for a week.
Songzan Green Valley Hotel gradually became famous, and many people found Baima and wanted to invest, but baima refused. "I was well aware that at the time, I wasn't strong enough to absorb capital, and if it was for money, how much time did I have left? Do I exchange the rest of my time for money, or do I buy the rest of my time back with money? In Baima's view, it is necessary to find a scientific way to do things, you can't work with your head, and if the resources are destroyed, there will be none." Diqing's tourism resources are rare in the world, and if they can be used well, they can be developed; but if there is no good way, don't move first, and leave it to more intelligent descendants.
At the beginning of the hotel's founding, Baima's goal was clear. But he's been thinking about what kind of platform it would be appropriate to graft that goal onto, because the platform is meant to be sustainable. He spent almost a decade researching and experimenting. During this period, they never publicized and promoted, nor did they expand rapidly.
In 2006, Baima finally met a partner with the same concept, and his dream gradually became clear. "From a geographical point of view, Diqing is located in the area where the three rivers flow side by side, namely the Jinsha River, the Lancang River and the Nu River. Based on this characteristic, I hope that my hotels are like the stations of ancient times. These coaching inns are connected from end to end, and each station has a different scenery. ”
In 2009, Songzanlin Kamei Pavilion, a hand-built watchtower located on the hill opposite Songzanlin Temple, was opened.
Since 2011, four Songzan hotels located in the hinterland of Diqing have been opened.
From Shangri-La, it takes about an hour's drive to The Benzilan along the Jinsha River, which was once a must for the Tea Horse Trail. Songzan Benzilan Hotel is located in a small village with only a dozen families, in the middle of a canyon, connected by a cobblestone road to the outside world. The window of the hotel is facing a pass, and under the window is the villagers' own countryside.
Starting from The Benzilan and crossing the White Horse Mountains, you can come to Deqin County on the Lancang River. Most of the tourists who come here want to see the honor of Meili Snow Mountain. The location of Songzan Meri's hotel is baima's most proud - pushing open the window of the room, it is facing the mysterious meri snow mountain.
Along the Lancang River Gorge all the way to the south, you can walk to Cizhong. At the beginning of the last century, French missionaries came here and established a Catholic church. Hotel Central Sonzanz is just over 200 meters from the church. In Zzhong, almost every family has its own vineyard. The French missionaries' winemaking techniques and the high-quality grapes produced at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters have made the wines special here.
A four-hour drive from Cizhong is to Tacheng, home to the famous Dharma Cave and the Yunnan Golden Snub-nosed Monkey National Park. The Songzanta City Hotel is embedded in villages, terraces, mountains and rivers.
As a result, Songzan has strung together a wonderful tourist loop with Shangri-La as the center.
Create a peaceful and happy spiritual home
Many tourists marvel at songzan hotel's rich Tibetan cultural atmosphere. Walking into the four-story tibetan house in Songzan Green Valley, you can feel that you are embraced by Tibetan culture. Every thangka, every engraved painting, every room, even a cushion, a sheet... All of them make people revel in the atmosphere of Tibetan culture. It's not like some hotels that feel dull and dull, and sometimes it even makes people feel like it's not a hotel.
In fact, many of the hotel's Tibetan furniture and ornaments are in baima's private collection for many years. Some people wonder why these collections should be placed directly in the lobby, restaurant and even guest rooms, which are easily damaged. Baima believes that the value of "collecting" comes from "display". "These collections, if you don't see people for too long, you will also get depression."
In order to protect the pristine village and natural environment as much as possible, Baima has always insisted on building hotels in the most traditional way, from carpentry and masonry to copperwork, and local craftsmen are hired as much as possible. "While building Songtsenlinka, I found a good coppersmith. Forced to make a living, he once switched to relief. I said to him, you come to me, you can stay here as long as you want to do it. Now Songtsam has five coppersmiths, from the door hoop door buckle to the copper pot copper basin, they knock out all the copper utensils of the Songzan Hotel with their hands. Not only that, Songzan also cooperates with the surrounding traditional handicraft workshops to take guests to visit and experience, stimulate consumption, and promote the development of local handicrafts.
Baima, who came out of the village of Kena, knew the importance of education. Since 2005, he has sponsored the schooling of children in the village of Kerna. After that, no matter where Songzan's hotel opened, he would donate money to fund the school — 500 yuan per junior high school student per year, 1,000 yuan per high school student per year, and 2,000 yuan per college student per year. He was convinced: "Since life is a long process, doing something that benefits everyone will make the process more meaningful." ”
Today, 98% of the entire "Songzan Series" employees are from local areas. "Where do the cultural idiosyncrasies of localization come from? It is precisely from the local Tibetan employees. They may be the villagers next to the hotel, and they do not serve according to the standards of ordinary star hotels, but follow the beliefs in their lives and the intimate relationships between people. I believe this emotion will touch people's hearts. ”
With the development of the hotel, Baima gradually discovered that Songzan was "needed by others". "Today's society is too frivolous. Fierce competition and thirst for materials have brought too much pressure to people. It has been 15 years since I made my first hotel in 2001. I hope that Songzan can share Tibetan culture while also creating a home for guests, a distant home that belongs to guests. ”
Shangri-La is a pure land in the hearts of the world, famous for its novel "Vanishing Horizon" by British writer James Hilton in the 1930s. But from the perspective of Baima, who grew up here, Shangri-La is not a postcard-style scenery blockbuster, nor a mysterious paradise, but a sense of happiness from the heart. "Shangri-La is in everyone's heart, it is selfless, it will touch people." Baima said.
At the end of the interview, Baima told reporters that at present, Songzan has started construction of new hotels in Lijiang, Yunnan and Lhasa, Tibet, and will be completed and opened in May 2017 as planned. It is expected that by 2019, Songzan will also build two hotels in Shannan, Tibet and Xigaze respectively, completing the layout of the ring line in Tibet. "In the future, I would like to pick up the camera again and make a documentary to show the wonderful Tibetan culture with vivid images."
Perhaps, Baima's road has just begun.
(Text: Wang Shuo Photo: Chen Jian, Yu Xiangjun)
Baima displayed his collection of traditional handicrafts, Tibetan furniture, ornaments, bronzes and thangkas in the Songzan series of hotels over the years.
Baima displayed his collection of traditional handicrafts, Tibetan furniture, ornaments, bronzes and thangkas in the Songzan series of hotels over the years. Photography by Chen Jian, Yu Xiangjun