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The Great Prayer Flags (Dajingfan) of Shangri-La are one of the most visible markers of Tibetan Buddhist culture on the high plateau around the city. Found strung between hilltops, across river crossings, and above mountain passes throughout the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, these long strands of colored cloth, printed with mantras, Buddhist images, and auspicious symbols, turn the landscape itself into a continuous act of prayer.

In Tibetan belief, each flap of a flag in the wind releases the printed mantra into the air, carrying blessing outward across the land and to all beings. The flags are produced in the five traditional colors, blue for sky, white for air, red for fire, green for water, and yellow for earth, and are renewed each year at the Lunar New Year (Losar) and at other auspicious moments in the Tibetan calendar. Around Shangri-La, the largest concentrations are found on the ridges above Potatso National Park, on the hills flanking the road to Meili, and on the summit of the major passes.

The largest single display in the city itself is the great flag strung across the ridge behind Dukezong Ancient Town, which can be seen from much of the old city. Travelers walking up to the Giant Prayer Wheel pass directly beneath the lines, and the constant snapping of the cloth in the plateau wind is one of the characteristic sounds of the city.

For international visitors, the prayer flags offer one of the simplest ways to read the Tibetan cultural landscape, since the colors are not decoration but cosmology, and the placement of each cluster marks a site of local significance. Visitors should not walk on fallen flags or remove them; new flags are traditionally commissioned rather than purchased casually, and offerings left at the base of a flag pole should not be disturbed.