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.
The Seven-Province Folk Artists' Singing Meeting of the Gesar
The nationwide singing event attended by Yunnan artists in Tibet in 1984.
The Chanting Transmission of the Dongzhulin Monastery
The mode of transmitting the Gesar in Yunnan chiefly through study under masters in monasteries.
The Gesar Singing Style of North-Western Yunnan
The Gesar performing style and libretto transmitted in Yunnan by He Mingyuan and other artists.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In Yunnan the Gesar circulates mainly in the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Tibetan-concentrated areas such as Weixi, where the local artists transmit it chiefly through monasteries and families, forming a chanting tradition with a north-western Yunnan character.
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
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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