Jangar
01 · Historical Records
The Mongol heroic epic Jangar first arose among the Oirat Mongol tribes and, with the migrations of the various Oirat Mongol tribes in the seventeenth century, spread to the Mongols of Russia and Mongolia, becoming a great epic across national borders. Handed down from generation to generation by the folk artists called jangarchi, the epic is still current in different forms in the leagues and cities of Alxa, Bayannur, Ordos, Chifeng, Tongliao, Hinggan and Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Jangar is a large serial Mongol heroic epic made up of many works, praised as one of the three great epics of China, circulating in Inner Mongolia mainly in the regions of Alxa league, Bayannur, Ordos, Chifeng, Tongliao, Hinggan league and Hulunbuir. The epic takes the hero Jangar as its name and tells how the holy lord Jangar Khan led twelve great generals and six thousand warriors in struggle against enemies of every kind to defend the ideal and happy land of Bomba. Apart from one opening poem, each of the remaining parts forms a complete story and can stand alone. The folk artists who sing the Jangar are called jangarchi. Jangar is performed in two forms, chanting with instrumental accompaniment and unaccompanied singing. The accompanying instruments include the tobshuur, sihu and morin khuur, but the tobshuur is most used. Traditionally there are certain rules for singing the Jangar: each performance must be a complete part, and the listeners must hear it to the end. With social and cultural change, singing the Jangar is no longer limited by time, place and environment. The national character of the Jangar is shown in many aspects of language use and expressive technique, such as the use of Mongol folk speech, the fusion and interweaving of ancient Mongol folk songs, benedictions, praises, maxims and proverbs, and the abundant use of such rhetorical devices as elaboration, exaggeration, metaphor, personification, alliteration, end-rhyme and internal rhyme. The story of the Jangar is winding and changeable and its language plain, and the spirit of the main characters fighting bloody battles to defend their beautiful homeland and their amiable and respected images are fascinating, giving the epic an inexhaustible vitality. In the western region it is transmitted by singing with the tobshuur or in folk song; in the central and eastern regions it is performed with sihu or chuur accompaniment or in the yabgan uliger storytelling form. Through its rich thought and vivid artistic technique the Jangar depicts scenery and scenes of life full of the breath of grassland life, embodying the character and aesthetic taste peculiar to the Mongol nation.
The Opening Poem
The opening poem before the various parts of the Jangar.
Jangarchi
The name for the folk artists who sing the Jangar.
Tobshuur Accompanied Chanting
The form of singing the Jangar with tobshuur accompaniment in the western region.
Yabgan Uliger Storytelling
The manner of performing the Jangar in storytelling form in the central and eastern regions.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Inner Mongolia is vast, and in the long course of nomadic production people interacted and communicated widely, so that the Jangar circulates throughout Inner Mongolia in different forms.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Jangar · Jangar · Jangar · Jangar.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Jangar is transmitted mainly through master and disciple, family and society. In Inner Mongolia master-to-disciple transmission is dominant, with a clear line of transmission. From the rhyme and metre of the Jangar one may discover the earliest budding form of Mongol poetic rhyme and metre and see the trajectory of its maturing, so that it is important material for studying the development of Mongol folk literature and has relatively high historical, cultural and artistic value.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Jia Zhunai 01-0021
- Lirifu 01-0022
- Xiariniman 01-0023
- Bada 04-1493
- Mandoulai
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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