The Analysis Of Post-Colonialism In Lost Horizon

James Hilton is a famous English writer. He has created some popular novels. One of his novels is called Lost Horizon. This extremely successful novel first came out in1933. A cinematic version followed suit immediately, generously economically supported by Frank Capra. Enjoying a wide adoring by readers to this day, this novel have devoted to the connection of image so closely as to be an everlasting expression in English language, which gave James Hilton great success. In his novel, Hilton describes a pure land called Shangri-la. At this time Shangri-la was known by all the Westerners, and all the Westeners were crazy for the pursuit of Shangri-la. There have been many studies carried out on the Lost Horizon since it was published in1933. However, these previous studies mainly concentrated on the perfect Relationship combination of China and the Western countries. There are few studies about the topic of post-colonialism in the novel Lost Horizon. The author of this paper mainly studies the post-colonialism in terms of politics, economy and culture in Shangri-la. The purpose of my study is to reveal Hilton’s post-colonial view.I will begin this paper with an introduction, followed by an individual analysis of the first, second and third chapter. Finally, I will finish with my conclusion.In the introduction, I will focus on the introduction of James Hilton’s life, the story of his novel Lost Horizon and the previous studies on Lost Horizon. Following that, I will give a brief introduction of post-colonial theories which is the research topic here.The main body of this paper consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I will analyse how politics in Shangri-La have been interfered with. I will develop this idea from three aspects. The first aspect addresses the fact that the Westerners own the leading rights of politics in the land of Shangri-la. The Lama Temple is used as the political tool controlled by the Westerners. The second aspect is that Shangri-la natives are deprived of democratic voting rights by the Westerners. Living without basic political rights, Shangri-la people are ruled by the post colonists. The third aspect is that there is an unequal political relationship in Shangri-la. The westerners have the superior position in this land. Shangri-la people are destined to be in the inferior position and are at the mercy of the post colonists. The second chapter is a study of how the post colonists have interfered with the economy of Shangri-la. Again, I will develop this point from three different aspects. The first aspect is how the Westerners exploit the natural resources, goldmines and cheap labour. Using these precious resources, the post colonists are developing their own capitalism. The second aspect focuses on how the Westerners expanded their market in Shangri-la in order to ease the economic crisis in the Western Countries. The third aspect is how the Westerners restrict Shangri-la in order to improve their own science and technology which can improve the production and economic development, while preventing the development of Shangri-la.In the third chapter, the paper gives a careful analysis of the post colonists’interference in Shangri-la’s culture from three aspects. The first aspect is how the Westerners look down upon Chinese religion. Shangri-la people began to believe in Christianity which was introduced by the post colonists. The second aspect is how the Westerners do not value the traditional methods of Chinese culture. Shangri-la people could potentially pursue the Western culture and forget their own culture. The third part is that the Westerners want to change the mind frame of Shangri-la people. Shangri-la people have accepted that they are the slaves of the Westerners.The conclusion of this paper points out that Hilton himself has a post colonist mind frame. Although Hilton describes a place far from Western countries, Shangri-la is foll of western elements. As a Westerner, Hilton can not escape the influence of Western superiority. He is aware of the viewpoint that the Western World takes the centre position and the Eastern world surrounds it. Shangri-la has been converted into a land which is now dependent on Western countries.