Evening Book Talk by SHIVAJI DAS, Author and moderated by Professor Julia Kuehn, Head of School, School of English, HKU In this talk, SHIVAJI DAS will share some highlights from his recent book, The ‘Other’ Shangri-La: Journeys through the Sino-Tibetan frontier of Sichuan. He will discuss his experiences of staying with the nomads in a high altitude; visiting Litang—the world’s highest town that is also the birthplace of important Lamas; Larung—the world’s largest monastery and highest slum; Kangding—a small town that gave birth to China’s favourite love song, and his gate-crashing into a beauty contest in China’s lost Queendom. The talk will also explore how the recent socio-economic and political trends have affected the lives and cultures of the people inhabiting these remote lands, many parts of which have since barred access to foreigners. SHIVAJI DAS is the author of three travel memoirs—Sacred Love: Erotic Arts in the temples of Nepal (2018), Angels by the Murky River: Travels Off the Beaten Track (2017) and Journeys with the caterpillar: Travelling through the islands of Flores and Sumba, Indonesia (2013). Assam-born Shivaji’s articles have been published in TIME, Asian Geographic, Outlook Traveler, The Jakarta Post, Conscious Magazine and Freethinker. His interviews have been featured on BBC, CNBC, The Economist, Travel Radio Australia, Around the World TV, among others. Shivaji is the conceptualizer of the Global Migrant Festival and Migrant and Refugee Poetry Contests, and is the Asia-Pacific Managing Director at Frost & Sullivan, Singapore. Professor JULIA KUEHN, Head of School of Englisg in University of Hong Kong. She has postgraduate degrees from the Universities of Oxford, Bonn and London, and also completed the Habilitation at the University of Bamberg. Her research interests lie in Victorian literature and culture, travel writing (related to China) and critical theory. Julia’s current projects include a study of representations of Hong Kong in Victorian travel writing and a comparative study of nineteenth-century German and British realist prose. Julia is also a Director of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival; an annual event held over 10 days every autumn, featuring established and emerging writers from around the world.

Journeys through the Sino-Tibetan frontier in Sichuan Illustrated lecture by Shivaji Das, Singapore based author of the recently published book (Konarak Publishers: India/USA, 2020), travel writer, photographer and Managing Director-APAC for Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting company Chair: Shri Ravi Bhoothalingam The ‘Other’ Shangri-la, gives a vivid account of Shivaji Das’ travels through the Sino-Tibetan frontier of Sichuan province, along with his Chinese wife Lobo. Written in an easy, humourous way, the travelogue takes the reader through some of the region’s very beautiful but tough mountain terrain

Shivaji Das talks about his latest book, 'The Other Shangri-La' The ‘Other’ Shangri-La, by Shivaji Das, is an unsentimental and nuanced portrait of a mystical and colourful frontier land of western Sichuan, China, that has been periodically placed out of bounds to foreign travellers. It describes several adventures that are written about humorously and explores in detail the lives and cultures of the people inhabiting these remote lands who are now subject to turbulent socio-economic factors. Brought to you by Konark Publishers (New Delhi, Seattle) Available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DL5VW6W https://amzn.to/3juuGrk https://bit.ly/32EOEcN

The ‘Other’ Shangri-La, by Shivaji Das, is an unsentimental and nuanced portrait of a mystical and colourful frontier land of western Sichuan, China, that has been periodically placed out of bounds to foreign travellers. It describes several adventures that are written about humorously and explores in detail the lives and cultures of the people inhabiting these remote lands who are now subject to turbulent socio-economic factors. Brought to you by Konark Publishers (New Delhi, Seattle) Available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DL5VW6W https://amzn.to/3juuGrk https://bit.ly/32EOEcN

The book, The 'Other' Shangri-La (Konark Publishers) authored by Shivaji Das was launched on August 22, 2020 followed by a webinar. The 'Other' Shangri-La, a travelogue, gives a fascinating illustrated description of the Sino-Tibetan frontier while the author and his wife travel along what he calls the world's 'most dangerous road'. In a lucidly written account, the author touches upon several aspects, ranging from the region's unique culture, geography and the underlying political tensions between the Hans and Tibetans, giving the book much contemporary relevance. Mr Das is the Asia-Pacific Managing Director at Frost & Sullivan, Singapore. He has authored three other travelogues that have received wide acceptance. The webinar was moderated by Mr Venu Rajamony, who is currently the Indian Ambassador to the Netherlands.The panelists were former Foreign Secretary of India Ambassador Shyam Saran (Retd.) and Cmde. C Uday Bhaskar, Director, Society for Policy Studies (SPS) and Strategic Analyst. The virtual launch was organised by Konark Publishers in association with SPS. #books #booklover #shivajidas #shangrila #China #Tibet #Sichuan #Shyamsaran #netherlands #konark #sps #udaybhaskar #travellouge #travel #india #travelwriter

"The Other Shangri-La: Journeys through the Sino-Tibetan frontier in Sichuan" Even though China has been open to foreign tourists for than 40 years, few make it to the magical mountaneous border region between Sichuan and Tibet that inspired the legend of "Shangri-la". In this engaging and profound work, Shivaji Das takes us there helping us to understand the fraught relations between Han Chinese and minority groups, and the country's vibrant religious scene.