China News Service, Beijing, June 3 (Reporter Yuan Xiuyue) With more than one million lines of poetry and more than 20 million words, some people call it the "Eastern Homer Epic".
In fact, its scale is far longer than Homer's epic, even more than the world's "five epics" combined.
What's more special is that it is also a "living" epic, inherited by rap artists from generation to generation, widely circulated among Tibetan people, especially farmers and herdsmen, and loved by the masses for thousands of years.
It is "King Gesar", known as "a great epic that shocks people's hearts", which tells the story of the legendary Tibetan hero King Gesar subduing demons and subduing demons and benefiting the people.
In order to allow the image of "King Gesar" to be presented in a more three-dimensional manner, the film "The Trial of King Gesar", directed by the Network Communication Bureau of the Central Cyberspace Administration of China and co-produced by China News Network, is in the form of an animated film. , tells the story of the legendary growth of a generation of the lion king Gesar in his youth who united all tribes to resist the invasion of the demons and established a new home with his fearless spirit.
"The Trial of King Gesar" poster
How can an epic be sung for thousands of years?
To answer this question, we need to understand the multiple profound meanings behind the historical and cultural symbol of "King Gesar".
First, "King Gesar" is the carrier of cultural self-confidence.
The epic "King Gesar" tells the story of King Gesar descending from the heavens to the Land of Fanling, becoming the lord of black-haired Tibetans, fighting for the salvation of all beings in Lingguo, subduing the demons, helping the weak, and returning to heaven after completing his mission. story.
Some researchers pointed out that "King Gesar" is not only an excellent literary work, but also has high academic and cognitive value. Habits, etc., have been vividly and truly described, "it is an encyclopedic masterpiece that reflects all aspects of ancient Tibetan social life".
There is a view that, for a long time, some Western scholars believe that the Chinese do not have their own national epics, and the ethnic minority epics represented by King Gesar have enriched the types of Chinese poetry, and are characterized by their huge size and liveliness. Inheritance has become a miracle of world poetics.
The picture shows students performing Gesar's epic rap art.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Sudan
Second, "King Gesar" is the epitome of ethnic blending.
The story of King Gesar has been circulated among many ethnic groups such as Tibetans, Mongolians, Yugurs, Tu, Qiang, Lhoba, etc. He is a hero praised by many ethnic groups. A cultural gem created together.
In terms of structural framework, "King Gesar" has a strong inclusiveness.
It is divided into Heaven, Demon, and Hell. It is characterized by a relatively fixed opening and ending, and an open structure in the middle. Folk rap artists can do their best in this part.
Rap artists not only rely on word of mouth, but also have unique epic inheritance types such as divine teaching, Yuanguang, excavation, epiphany, and intellectualization.
This open structure constantly absorbs new story content, and absorbs many narrative genres—such as myths, legends, stories, folk songs, proverbs, etc. into epics, forming a spectacular narrative picture.
Data map: The monks from Rongta Temple, Sedi Township, Hongyuan County, Sichuan performed the famous Tibetan opera "Danzeng, Yewobomei" for the local people.
Photo by Mou Jinghong
Third, "King Gesar" is also the representative of intangible cultural heritage protection.
As the only living epic in the world at present, in the 1950s, China launched the rescue and protection of "King Gesar". Context and other aspects of rescue, protection and research for more than half a century.
In 2006, "King Gesar" was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, and in 2009, it was included in UNESCO's "Representative List of Human Intangible Cultural Heritage".
In recent years, China has published a series of books related to "King Gesar", and actively promoted the digitization of Gesar culture, systematically surveyed, collected, translated and sorted out folk Gesar rap artists and manuscripts, and completed Census filing of over 100 rap artists.
It has been sung for thousands of years. Today, the story of "King Gesar" is being spread and enriched in more forms. It quietly records the pluralistic unity of the Chinese nation and explains the eclecticism of Chinese civilization.
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