Collection of and Research on the Epic

　　With collaboration and collection, The Life of King Gesar has become truly of epic proportion. The entire work is longer and has a greater number of verses than the world's other five great epics combined. The other five epics are the ancient Babylonian Gilgamesh, the Greek Iliad and Odyssey, and the Indian Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Babylonian epic Gilgamesh is regarded as the world's oldest epic, having been written some 3,000 years before the Christian Era. It has some 3,000 verses. The Iliad is made up of 24 volumes with over 15,000 verses. The Odyssey is also made up of 24 volumes and has some 12,000 verses. The Indian classic Ramayana is divided into seven volumes, totalling 18,000 odes with two verses each. Mahabharata is divided into 18 volumes, totalling more than 100,000 odes comprising over 200,000 verses.

　　The study of The Life of King Gesar is of great significance to an understanding of Chinese cultural history and fills a gap in China's multi-ethnic literary history. With vivid facts, it demonstrates that epics existed not only in the West and in ancient India, but in China as well, overturning the long-held academic belief that Chinese writers have never created a Chinese epic. In fact, China boasts the longest epic in the world. Along with the Babylonian, Greek and Indian epics, The Life of King Gesar is of significant value as part of the world's cultural treasure-house, making important contributions to human civilization.

　　Work to preserve The Life of King Gesar has involved several aspects, myriad subjects and various departments. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, much importance has been attached to the work of preserving The Life of King Gesar. In the 1950s, efforts were devoted to its collection. On March 23, 1959, a special White Paper on preservation of The Life of King Gesar was authorized for dispatch by the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the National Day. Thanks to joint efforts by the folk artists of all ethnic groups, noticeable progress has been recorded.

　　Since the late 1970s, when China entered a new historic stage, preservation work has been once again stressed. Since 1983, the collection of and research on the epic has been listed as a national key project three times in succession. In 1984, concerned organizations were established by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Culture, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the China Folk Artists' Association, as well as related departments in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces and the Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, in a bid to complete the massive but far-reaching cultural cause.

　　A contingent of hundreds of experts and technicians have spent scores of years conducting academic investigations and scientific research in many parts of China. Their work has been a heroic undertaking in Tibetan cultural history, and the scale of efforts is rare among the developmental programs in Chinese multi-ethnic literature and art.

　　After scores of years of painstaking effort, especially during the past decade, this work has formed a scientific research contingent made up of senior, veteran, and young experts from several ethnic groups specializing in performance, collection, translation, publication and academic research. A number of academic works and investigative reports have been published, and many valuable materials and documents have been collected, providing a solid foundation for further study.

　　Based on these achievements, academic activities have increased, with a variety of artistic performances and academic symposiums, as well as four international academic seminars. Many foreign academics believe the undertakings concerning The Life of King Gesar have made rapid progress, making this discipline a dynamic academic field of Chinese Tibetology and Mongolian studies, as well as Chinese folk literature circle. The study of this epic has become a system of academic courses. Continuing to develop, the field offers tremendous advantages and rich cultural connotations. In June 1995, the epic, for the first time, was discussed as a special item at the 7th International Tibetan Studies Seminar held in Austria. With unique national flavor and colorful content, the ancient heroic epic The Life of King Gesar fully displays the bright color and tremendous artistic value of Tibetan literature and has won China a fresh reputation among international academic circles.

　　Up to date, almost 300 Tibetan manuscripts and wooden engravings have been collected, including 200 copies in various other language. More than 70 Tibetan editions have been published, with a total number of copies topping 3 million. This means that the number of copies published roughly equals the adult population of Tibet. In addition, some 20 Chinese-language editions have been published. This is viewed as an unprecedentedly great achievement in the history of Tibetan publication.