9/19/2023 0 Comments The legendary storyteller![]() Xu says because the epic has been mainly passed down orally, preserving the tradition is urgent as old storytellers are passing away. People living on the plateau used to learn their history from the Gesar epic," says Xu Guangzhi, director of the Tibetology institute of Xizang University. It tells how the king, sent by god, banishes demons, helps the weak and unifies tribes. ![]() The legend of King Gesar can be traced back to the 11th century. The longest epic in the world-dozens of times the length of Homer's Iliad, The Epic of King Gesar has been passed down orally through singers and storytellers on western China's Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. The storyteller and researcher tasks himself with the mission to preserve and spread the Gesar epic, a masterpiece that is regarded as an encyclopedia of ancient Tibetan society. The 32-year-old says he's able to recite more than 140 episodes of King Gesar's story, equal to several million words.Īn inheritor of the Gesar epic tradition, which was inscribed on the UNESCO list of world intangible cultural heritage in 2009, Sithar Dorje works at the Gesar epic research center of Xizang University in Lhasa in the Xizang autonomous region. When storyteller Sithar Dorje closes his eyes to start singing and narrating The Epic of King Gesar, he says he enters into another world where the king lives and he plays one of the fabled roles. The masterpiece is hailed as an encyclopedia of ancient Tibetan society. Storyteller Sithar Dorje sings and narrates The Epic of King Gesar at Xizang University in Lhasa.
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