Overlook Lake Betha Tso (Photo/ Wang Ting)

Potatso National Park is 40 minutes’ drive from Shangri-la City, Diqing Autonomous Prefecture.

With mountains, rivers, blooming flowers, birds, flocks and herds, the park is like a Xanadu and a paradise on earth.

The park is with unified planning and management, and sightseeing tours are orderly arranged.

In the 1990s, Shudu Lake and Lake Betha Tso, which are the main scenic spots of the park now, had poor infrastructures and sanitary facilities.

The simple, extensive and unordered tourism business brought great pressure on local ecology, which drew local government’s attention.

To maintain the harmonious development of economy, society and ecology, local government came up with the idea of building a national park, thus to carry out unified management, planning, protection and exploitation of Lake Betha Tso and Shudu Lake scenic area.

Besides, local government also adopted a series of measures, such as providing life and education subsidies and jobs, to engage local people in the exploitation, construction and operation of Potatso National Park.

The method, which helped protect local environment and improve people’s life, has become a vivid practice of the understanding that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.

The front gate of Potatso National Park (Photo/ Atraya)

A corner of Shudu Lake (Photo/ Atraya)

Meandering herds beside Shudu Lake (Photo/ Wang Ting)

In the park, plank road connects each other. (Photo/ Wang Ting)

The grazing site in the park (Photo/ Wang Ting)

The wetland in the park (Photo/ Atraya)