Gesar： A Great Epic ＂The Best in the World＂ (I)

　　As an extremely precious epic text in the treasure house of Chinese culture and even the world culture, Gesar has experienced the development process from the folk oral narrative tradition spread on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for thousands of years, to the national folk culture under the national discourse system, and then to the intangible cultural heritage of mankind in the international perspective, which is a great contribution of the Chinese nation to human civilization.

　　Historically, the story of the hero Gesar has been spread among Tibetans, Mongolians, Naxi, Yugur, Tu and other ethnic groups. They localized the story and formed a heroic epic that all ethnic groups highly admire. As a result, "Gesar" originated in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and then spread to all ethnic groups and regions and even to the surrounding areas in cross-border and cross-cultural contexts. It has become a cultural treasure that witnessed the long-term exchanges and exchanges between Tibetans and other ethnic groups, and has also become an important cultural heritage shared by China and countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative.

　　▲ Gesar Square in Yushu, Qinghai. (Source: Picture Worm Creativity)

　　Since 1950s, our government has included the collection and arrangement of Gesar in the national cultural protection work sequence, which can be said to give it a "second life". On this basis, since the beginning of this century, the country has vigorously advocated and practiced the concept of intangible cultural heritage protection, which has further protected, inherited and developed Gesar, and opened a new connection and dialogue with the world based on the local conditions.

　　Grand narrative tradition

　　As a masterpiece of folk literature, Gesar is a grand narrative epic created by the Tibetan people and still in live transmission, representing the highest achievement of ancient Tibetan folk culture. It tells the story of King Gelsall, a hero, who devoted himself to saving the living beings, leading the "Lingguo" tribe to subdue demons, restrain the strong and help the weak, and promote people to live in harmony and build a beautiful home. It comprehensively reflects the ancient features of history, society, religion, customs, morality and culture of Tibetans and other ethnic groups, and is an important carrier of local knowledge, ethnic memory, folk wisdom and mother tongue expression.

　　Like other national epics and folk literature works, Gesar has two basic ways of dissemination: first, it is preserved and disseminated by manuscripts and woodcuts; Second, it is passed on by the people, especially the excellent inheritors. The successor of Gesar, the rapper, is called "Zhongken" and "Zhongwow" in Tibetan, which means the storyteller. It is by virtue of the outstanding oral artistic talents of "Zhongken" and "Zhongwa" from generation to generation that Gesar has been passed down for thousands of years in the vast plateau agricultural and pastoral areas, spread widely among the people, and even become a part of their daily lives.

　　When folk artists sing, they often sum up the main content of Gesar in three sentences: "The heaven above sent envoys to earth, and there were various disputes in the middle world, and the hell below completed the karma." It can be seen that the whole epic consists of three parts: heroes descending to earth, surrendering demons and stabilizing the world. Its scale is generally described by more than 1 million lines, more than 20 million words and more than 170 texts in academic circles. It is well-deserved to be one of live transmission’s epics with the longest length and the largest scale in the world, and it can be called the "world epic crown". As far as the system is concerned, in fact, these are only approximate figures, because Gesar is a living epic, and its length and connotation are constantly breaking through with the improvisation of singers. Gesar, as we see it today, is a grand narrative tradition with vast text content, complex discourse structure, diverse genre forms and numerous ways of inheritance, which is spread across nationalities, borders and cultural circles.

　　This "encyclopedic" great epic also witnessed the exchanges and cultural creativity of all ethnic groups in China. It is not only the source of inspiration for the creation of traditional folk art such as Thangka, Tibetan opera and singing, but also the source of modern art such as literature, film and television, dance, music and fine arts, which has greatly promoted the prosperity and development of various literary and artistic forms. In the process of the spread of Gesar, the languages, religious beliefs and values of all ethnic groups have had a profound impact on it. At the same time, it has continuously absorbed the cultures of all ethnic groups and enriched its own content and connotation.

　　▲ "Gesar" Tibetan translation Chinese series. (Photo courtesy of Xizang Autonomous Region Academy of Social Sciences)

　　Looking back at the beginning of the formation of Gesar, like many folk stories, it seems to be a story born out of history (with history as its theme) and spread among the people in the form of legend. Then, how did this legendary, scaly-clawed folk story develop into a grand narrative work and then become a spectacular narrative tradition?

　　The epic text of Gesar consists of three different genres, namely, historical genre, mythical genre and artistic genre. Among them, historical genre is the basis of epic genre, but in the later oral context, it constantly experienced the process of "de-historicization", and gradually merged into mythical and artistic images, and finally built an "epic building". Most of the other epics in the world originated from real history or took history as the background. Comparing the texts of Gesar in different times, we will find that the early texts are close to the objective reality, although they are legendary; Later texts have a strong mythical color; However, the text produced in recent years has a strong Buddhist color, which has generally gone through three stages: historical experience (original historical narrative), historical myth and then myth art. In China, it is not uncommon for myths to be historicized. As far as Tibetans are concerned, the history before the period of Tubo Songzan Gambo in the 7th century A.D. can be regarded as oral mythical history to some extent. This also shows that only when history is mythologized can it spread fire for the birth of epic.

　　According to the literature, Gesar is a historical figure. He was born in the first half of the 11th century in a tribe called Lingguo on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, that is, the dege county-Ezhi area in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. His real life scene before his death is described in detail in the 14th century’s History of the Lang Family. The map of the Tang Dynasty in the Atlas of Chinese History, edited by Mr. Tan Qixiang, clearly marked the location of "Ling", indicating that the tribe was already famous at that time. Thus, Gesar, as a historical figure with flesh and blood, laid the foundation for the text of Gesar. Subsequently, from the original historical narrative to the mythical narrative, Gesar changed from man to god, and the historical text gradually evolved into an epic text.

　　▲ Picture book "Young Hero King Gelsall" China Zhongfuhui Publishing House. (Source: Zhongxin. com)

　　In this process, many important events in Tibetan history formed intertextual relations with Gesar, which became important materials for molding epic texts. From a macro point of view, the time and space view of the whole epic refers to the historical events, social events, folk traditions, military achievements, etc. of Tibetans moving from a scattered tribal society to a unified Tubo society. With the progress of cross-culture, Gesar borrowed many concepts and terms referring to social and cultural events in Tibetan history. For example, taking "Zong" (the county-level administrative organization in ancient Tibet) as the basic narrative unit, it is often used to describe and divide the units of epic stories with 18 major sects, 18 middle sects, 18 minor sects or 64 minor sects. In addition, it was also integrated into many historical events at that time, including the dispute between Buddhism and benzene, the mutual struggle between Tibetan local forces in the Tubo period and the post-Honghu period, etc. However, this intertextuality uses mythical and artistic methods. Although the mythical text has not yet reached the level of a masterpiece, the story model and basic structure have been formed, and there have been chapters such as Birth, Horse Racing as King, Huoling War, Jiangling War, Menling and Moling. In this regard, scholar Yang Yi put forward: "In a long period of time, due to the nurturing of various cultural factors and the genius creation of the artist’s mind and soul, (Gesar) has been sprouted from a limited number of original works, full of vitality, expanded into a department, and was born outside the department. Only by subduing the evil part, it has derived 18 large pieces and 18 small pieces, and absorbed the rich wisdom of the nation.Finally, it is more than 100 in length. "

　　▲ Gesar epic Tibetan embroidery scroll "Thirty Generals of Gesar Ridge" appeared in the "GAO-YUAN Intangible Heritage Forum". (Photo by Fion Sun from China News Agency)

　　Gesar learned from and absorbed Buddhist culture in the early stage of its gestation and birth, and was able to turn a chrysalis into a butterfly, with a gorgeous turn from a fairy tale to a grand narrative. Although the Buddhist thought was gradually strengthened in the later Gesar text, its artistic essence never changed. Buddhism, as an artistic means, has created the evolution process of Gesar from perceptual to rational, from the experience level to the concept level, which has played an important role in the leap from myth to art and provided a philosophical basis for the transition from metaphor to symbol level. No matter in the stage of historical myth or mythological art, the evolution of Gesar’s text takes artistic imagination as the starting point and poetic thinking as the logical origin of epic narration, which promotes the formation of the core values and concepts recognized by all ethnic groups in China, such as the feelings of home and country, the way to help the world, equality, freedom and justice.

　　It is precisely because of its lofty characteristics and grand thoughts that the epic Gesar can spread and develop across regions, nationalities, borders and cultures. In the 11th and 12th centuries, after the formation of the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with the Three Rivers as the core, Gesar continued to radiate outward, forming a "core area" and a "radiation area" at the regional and geographical levels, as well as a huge epic spread belt across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Mongolian Plateau and the Pamirs, which became an important part of the multi-ethnic cultural circle in the Himalayas. With the footsteps of pilgrims and business travelers on the ancient tea-horse road, with the forgetfulness of rappers, especially with the continuous expansion and deepening of exchanges and exchanges between various ethnic groups, Gesar has gradually spread to more and further places from the junction of Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and other provinces and regions in China.

　　▲ The dance "Ling King Gelsall" filmed at the special cultural evening to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Qamdo. (Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhan Yanshe)

　　Nowadays, Gesar is widely spread and influential among Tibetan, Mongolian, Tu, Yugu, Dongxiang, Sala, Naxi, Qiang, Menba, Luoba, Pumi, Bai, Dulong and Lisu in seven provinces and regions. In addition, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Russia and other countries and regions have also spread. In other words, it has formed an international circulation belt along the "Belt and Road", becoming a beautiful landscape in the history of world cultural exchange and epic territory, and an important witness to the exchange and mutual learning of human civilization and cultural creativity.

　　(The author is Nobuwangdan, director and researcher of Tibetan Literature Research Office of Institute of Ethnic Literature, China Academy of Social Sciences, director of the office of the National Leading Group for Gesar, and professor of China Academy of Social Sciences. This article was published in the 6th issue of China Nationality magazine in 2022. )

　　Producer | Yang Xinhua

　　Audit | Niu Zhinan

　　Coordinating | Kang Kunquan, Hu Jun, Liu Jia

　　Editor | Long Huirui Jiang Ling Francy Wang Keyra Liu

　　Production | Kou Jiayu