Ecological Content of Epic King Gesar

King Gesar, an epic created orally by the Tibetans long ago, covers ethnic groups,language, religion, civil affairs, literature and arts,history, politics, military, ethic, ecology and psychology, etc. Thus it is viewed as Tibetan encyclopedia. A study of the epic shows that in view of the fo refathers of the Tibetans, man and nature both have souls and are equal life forms with religious dignity. It is mainly represented in following aspects, the idea of “respecting life and nature” as its core.     

King Gesar:The World''''s Longest Epic

King Gesar, a great epic created by the Tibetan race in ancient time, has been orally transmitted down the generations and widely known throughout Tibetan-inhabited areas. It tells of the exploits of the magical hero-king Gesar, and his prowess in battle as he strives to defend his people. The epic embodies the highest level of the ancient Tibetan culture, hence commanding high academic and aesthetic value. Internationally, it is known as "Homer epic in the east."King Gesar was born into th…     

Researching and Editing the Selective Edition of the Tibetan Epic Gesar

Gesar is a great heroic epiccreated collectively byTibetans.For thousands ofyears,it has been circulatingfar and wide within Tibetanareas and has been loved byTibetans.Gesar represents anhistorical pinnacle of ancient Ti-betan culture.As not only a crys-tallization of Tibetan's intelligence,but also a cultural treasure house,Gesar is of high academic and aestheticvalue.     

Tne Application and Cultural Understanding or tne Epic Gesar Images in Rites

Images are important materialized forms of the epic Gesar. G.N.Roerich from the former Soviet Union, a famous expert in Tibetan studies, in his article of The Epic Gesar of gLing, divided the images of the epic Gesar into two types according to their content: "1) images to present King Gesar's mysterious life based on available written versions of the epic, and 2) images to portray Gesar as Guan Ti, who was     

A Commemorative Happy Day China holds grand commemorative activities to celebrate the millennium of the Gesar Epic

On Oct.17,2001,delegates from more than 140countries and regions unanimously agreed,at the 31thUNESCO session,that the commemorative activitiesto celebrate the millennium of the Gesar Epic wouldbe enlisted into one of the UN programs from July of2002 to july of 2003.It shows an internationally affir-mative recognition of the wisdom of the Tibetan eth-nic group of China,and it is also an internationallyaffirmative recognition of those great achievementsmade in the collection,collation and academic researchof documents of the Gesar Epic in China since thefounding of New China,especially since its reform andopening up.     

Protecting Gesar Balladeers

Effort made to preserve King Gesar began soon after the end of the chaotic "cultural revolution" (1966-76). In 1980, the Tibet Autonomous Region set up an office to deal with the work; it was placed under the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences in 1985.Office members found a total of 40-odd folk balladeers able to sing the epic. They ranged from the elderly to youngsters. Nineteen of them were invited to put their voice on tape, and 122 volumes of the singing editions were recorded on 4,500 tapes.     

Tangka Painting of Gesar

Rope and other patterns on pottery unearthed from the Karub cultural sites, dating back some 5,000 years, are considered to be the earliest examples of painting art known so far. Rock paintings believed to have come later constitute the embryo of Tibetan painting art.Tangka painting is closely related to frescoes in terms of painting art. Tangka is created to reproduce what is painted in the fresco. Cultures prevalent in China's hinterland, India and Nepal exerted deep influence on Tibetan painting art.Both Princess Wencheng and Princess Jincheng brought the Han Chinese culture into Tibet, which proved to be a boon for the development of Tibetan painting art. With construction of the Potala Palace, Jokhang, Qamzhub and other monasteries, Tibetan painting art developed apace. Frescoes in Jokhang Monastery, Qamzhub Monastery and Potala Palace, still visible today, feature a simple nature, with rich colors and concise lines, while figures were painted in an     

Millennium Celebrations of King Gesar

King Gesar has been circulating among Tibetans for some 1,000 years or more.The longest epic in the world, passed down through the ages in the oral form, has even drawn the concern of the international community. UNESCO has approved activities in honor of the millennium of the epic. Public opinion hails this as a major event important for the protection of traditional Tibetan culture and the promotion of various ethnic groups in the world.The epic is a concentration of ancient tales, legends, sayings, and various kinds of folk arts. Thus far, 150 volumes have been located; they contain some 1.5 milion lines.     

Sangzhub Edition of King Gesar

Tibetan folk artists created and passed down through succeeding generations the story of King Gesar. All of them had an extraordinarily good memory. Of the known editions of the epic, only 10 percent are in written form with the remainder have been sung and passed down through history orally.A general survey of the folk editions of the epic in the 1980s showed that some 40 folk balladeers could sing more than 10 editions of King Gesar. Efforts have since been made to save, compile and publish these. Thus far, we have recorded 122 volumes of the epic in some     

Cradle of the Gesar Culture

EDITOR'S NOTE: Shiqu is located in the area inhabited by people of the Tibetan ethnic group. It is close to the Gesar Cultural Area in Yushu and Golog of Qinghai, Qamdo of Tibet, Dege of Garze of Sichuan Province. Our visit to that part of the world not long ago shows that Dege is regarded as the hometown of Gesar, and Shiqu is the cradle of Gesar Culture.     

Millennia Anniversary of King Gesar

In November 2001, UNESCO approved China's proposal for celebrating the millennium anniversary of King Gesar in 2002-2003. The Chinese deem this as a confirmation of their efforts to rescue, compile, translate and publish the longest epic in the world. Efforts have since been made to prepare for the event. The National King Gesar Office joined hands with local branch offices to sponsor celebration activities from last June.——Garze in Sichuan held a meeting in the hometown of Gesar in June;     

King Gesar:PUBLISHING PLAN

When the national conference on philosophy and social sciences was held inGuilin, Guangxi, in 1983, it wasdecided that efforts be made to gather and compile King Gesar as anational project during the SixthFive-Year Plan.With efforts made by dozens ofNPC and CPPCC delegates, the Statedepartment concerned earmarkesome 6 million Yuan for the ChineseAcademy of Social Sciences to organize the work.Compiling King Gesar was officially approved, and the first fourvolumes were published: The …     

Gesar Stone Carvings in Moska

During the May Day of 2002, Li Xingxing, an associate research fellow of the Nationality Research Institute of Sichuan Province, a cameraman of the production team of a certain TV sta-tion of Sichuan, a number of teachers and students of Southwest Jiaotong University Architecture College and I, went to Dain-ba County for an inspection related to the application for world cultural relic status     

Gesar:MEANING and CONTENT

Scholars have long shown keen interest in thesource and content of Gesar, in the epic KingGesar. But this has led to many conflicting views.In fact, the hero in the epic is not always named asGesar. Apart from this difference, there are variations in thecontent of the name.GESAR IN THE HEAVENToinzhub Garbo was the youngest son of the king of theWhite Brahma. In Tibetan, "Toinzhub" means "grand cause",and "Garbo" means "white," with "Toinzhub Garbo" meaning "the person who will be s…     

Tangka Gesar:A Rare Treasure

King Gesar is an epic orally passed down through history. With a view to attracting more audience, some balladeersbegan making drawings to illustrate the contents and these became the earliest form of tangka painting about Gesar.People, however, also cherished the Gesar Tangka for home worship purposes. Most of these paintings depict Gesar mounted on a horse in battle. Such paintings can be further divided into two types: One type finds expression in the 10 tangka paintings collected by the Jig-mei Museum in Paris; and the second type includes 11 tangka paintings by the     

土族叙事长诗--祁家延西

挂帅出征祁家的延西祁总兵,他保境安民镇西宁,七十龄来嘛奔八十,祁延西是个高龄人。东头里不乱西头乱,耳听洛阳城贼寇反,欺压众百姓恶如山,受苦的百姓受熬煎。东边里不杀西边杀,血流成河来骨成山,乌鸦和老鸹啄石头人吃人来着狗吃狗。皇上的江山不稳了,皇宫的门前悬皇榜,皇上皇榜柴总兵揽,点兵点将地出了兵。黑水河上一铁板桥,柴总兵出兵少智谋,黑水的桥上损了兵,调转兵马打折了回。柴总兵害怕难上禀,下道假旨给祁总兵,上前线要你祁延西,报功劳有我柴大人。头道的帖子下来了,头道的帖子打回了,二道的帖子又到了,二道的帖子我不接。三道帖子又…     

《亚鲁王》:“英雄史诗”还是“活态史诗”

西方以荷马史诗为范例建构起来的"英雄史诗"观念有两个要素,一是一个民族对另一个民族的战争,一是凭勇敢获得财富和荣誉。"英雄史诗"只是解读《亚鲁王》的一个维度,而不能囊括其作为口头史诗的本质特征。在苗族丧葬仪式上面对亡灵展演的史诗《亚鲁王》是一种活在民间仪式中的文学,它以仪式展演为主要生存形态,以口耳相传为主要传播方式,具有鲜明的活态性。