Gesar Epic Tradition

01 · Historical Records

The earliest surviving manuscript of the epic was completed in the fourteenth century, and the Beijing woodblock edition of 1716, The Life of the Holy Lord Gesar Khan of the Ten Directions, is its earliest printed version. Since the 1950s, influenced by the process of modernisation, the ways of life of the Tibetan and Mongol and other peoples have changed and the professional ranks of artists have begun to shrink.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The epic Gesar, sung for a thousand years, circulates among the Tibetan, Mongol, Tu, Yugur, Naxi and Pumi peoples of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau of China and tells, by word of mouth, of the heroic deeds of King Gesar, who descended to the lower world, subdued demons and monsters, restrained the strong and helped the weak, unified the various divisions and at last returned to heaven. The Gesar is the longest in sung length of all the epics so far discovered in the world; it is at once a crucible of ethnic cultural diversity and a witness to the sustainable development of the folk cultures of many peoples. This oral epic shared by many peoples is the crystallisation of grassland nomadic culture and represents the highest achievement of the ancient Tibetan and Mongol folk culture and oral narrative art. Countless wandering singers have inherited its chanting and performance from generation to generation. The Gesar is the main vehicle of the religious belief, indigenous knowledge, folk wisdom, ethnic memory and mother-tongue expression of the communities concerned, a source of inspiration for the creation of such traditional folk arts as thangka, Tibetan opera and tanchang, and at the same time a living spring for modern art forms. For a thousand years the epic artists have played the role of telling history, conveying knowledge, regulating conduct, maintaining the community and adjusting life, gently educating the members of the nation through the epic. Besides this, the epic has spread beyond the borders to Mongolia, the Buryat and Kalmyk regions of Russia and India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and other countries and neighbouring regions south of the Himalayas. The influence of this cross-cultural transmission is extraordinarily rare. The Gesar artists are the most direct creators, transmitters and spreaders of the epic; the great majority of them are illiterate, yet they have extraordinary memory and narrative creativity, and an ordinary epic performance reaches tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lines.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

In Inner Mongolia the Gesar circulates mainly among the Mongol-concentrated areas of Bairin, Jarud and Ordos, where it is called Geser, and has formed a line of transmission based chiefly on artist families and master-to-disciple teaching, especially concentrated in the Bairin Left Banner and Bairin Right Banner areas.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Gesar Epic Tradition · Gesar Epic Tradition · Gesar Epic Tradition · Gesar Epic Tradition · Gesar Epic Tradition · Gesar Epic Tradition · Gesar Epic Tradition · Gesar Epic Tradition.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

So far about one hundred and twenty parts of the epic's sung texts have been recorded, the verse alone being more than a million lines long, and this living oral epic is still continually expanding. The singing of the epic serves to express national feeling, promote social interaction and uphold traditional belief, and also has the function of strengthening national identity and values and influencing folk aesthetic orientation. The transmission of the Gesar among many peoples is not only an important bond for transmitting national culture and uniting the national spirit but also a vivid witness to the mutual exchange and understanding of the various peoples. In recent years a number of old artists have died one after another, and the situation in which the song dies with the man has already appeared. The audience of Gesar is shrinking, the epic tradition faces the danger of dying out, and protection work should begin at once.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Cirenzhandui 01-0024
• Cairangwangdui 01-0025
• Dawazhaba 01-0026
• Wang Yongfu 01-0027
• Ani 01-0028
• Lvrifu 01-0029
• Sangzhu 03-0788
• Luobusheng 03-0789
• Hemingyuan 04-1494
• Baga 04-1495
• Jinbazhamusu 05-1997
• Badan 05-1998
• Gerijiancan 05-1999
• Caizhi 05-2000
• Kunqikeqiakeerta
• Badamarenqin
• Chaou
• Zhaxiduojie

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Gesar Epic Tradition (Inner Mongolia) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Luobusheng · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗