King Gesar: Chronology

Scholars believe King Gesar was created during the primitive Tibetan tribal period, some 2,000 years ago. It has since been passed down orally. In the 19th century, some woodblock printed editions were created, but they were circulated in small area.

Ngada from the herding area in Ngaqu singing King Gesar during the horse race.



Gesar's horse saddle preserved in the Rawoqe Monastery



Journals on King Gesar:Collection of King Gesar,On Gesar,Folk Poet Master,and Gesar Study.



Gesar's sword preserved in the Rawoqe Monastery.



Prof. Jambian Gyamco visiting the Qinghai Lake in 1987.

Skatch Map of King Gesar Told in China



Zhaba singing King Gesar in the Gesar Research Institute of the Tibet University in 1981 

1716: Qing Emperor Kangxi ordered creation of a woodblock printed edition of Biography of Gesser Khan in Mongolian language, with seven chapters totalling 177 pages. This is fact that King Gesar had spread from the Tibetan area to Mongolia and further to Beijing in the early days of the 18th century.

1776: In his travelogue titled Reisen durch verchiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reiches, P.S. Pallas described the Temple of Gesar.

1839: I.J. Schmidt printed the Beijing edition of the Biography of Gesser Khan in Mongolian language in Petersburg, and turned it into German.

1884-1886: G.N. Potanin, a Russian explorer, recorded segments of King Gesar in circulation in the Amdo area.
Gesar's horse saddle preserved in the Rawoqe Monastery.

1900: A.H. Francke recorded King Gesar in his The Spring Myth of the Kesar Saga, which was published in Me' moires de La Socie Finno-Ougrienne. In 1905-19, he recorded the epic from a 16-year-old girl and published the English version titled A Lower Ladakhi Version of the Kesar Saga in Calcutta.

1920s: A. David-Neel and her step-son Lama Yongden came to the Tibetan-inhabited areas in Qinghai and Sichuan, where they gathered hand-copied or woodblock printed copies of King Gesar. Upon home to France, they turned it into French and published the book titled La vie surhumaine de Gue' sar de Ling in Paris. It was turned into English in 1931 in London, and reprinted in 1959 and 1978 in New York, exerting great impact on the West.

1920-1940: Ren Naiqiang wrote to Borderland Opinion and Kangdao Monthly when he returned from investigating in the Kham area, saying that King Gesar enjoy popularity among people of the Tibetan ethnic group and was like a book Three Kingdom of the Tibetans (Three Kingdoms is a book loved by the Han - Tr.). This was the first time an inland scholar introduce King Gesar to the Han and other ethnic groups in China, and was the first non-Tibetan scholar to study the epic.

1940s: R.A. Stein, Professor with Paris University, gathered woodblock printed King Gesar in three chapters in Dengke and Dege in the Kham area. His faithful translation of the epic was published in Paris in 1956.

February 1956: The Chinese Association of Writers held its second meeting of its council members in Beijing. Lao She said in his report that both the Mongolian and Tibetan version of King Gesar are important epics. He said the epic had four volumes in the beginning, but had increased to 24 volumes then.

1957: The CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee called for efforts to carry forward cultural heritages in the province. The Provincial Association of Literary and Art Circles gathered parts of the epic, including The Birth of the Hero, and Becoming the King by Winning the Horse Race.

Ce. Damuding Sulun from Mongolia published his work titled Historical Source of King Geser, which tells the story in great detail.

December 1958: The CPC publicity Department made public an open letter, calling for Inner Mongolia and Qinghai to compile the Mongolian edition of Geser and the Tibetan edition of Gesar.

1959: The Literature Research Institute of the Inner Mongolian Academy of Social Sciences sent people to record Hero Geser sung by Bagyi (1902-1962) of the Mongolian ethnic group, totalling 80 hours, and put it into written form totalling 60,000 lines or 3 million words. The work lasted for one year. Bagyi passed away on April 7, 1962 at the age of 60, leaving behind 60,000-line epic Hero Geser and 19 other works.

The Publicity Department of the CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee decided that the Provincial Association of Literary and Art Circles organize a work group to be specialized in the gathering, compiling and translating work.

R.A. Stein with the Paris University published his work on the research into Tibetan King Gesar and balladeers, and the Historical Painting Scrolls on the Life of Gesar.

1960: Qinghai organized a group of some 200 people to conduct an investigation of folk literary works in 588 production teams of 135 people' s communes in 39 counties. It also sent people to do investigation in Xiaohe in Gansu, Aba, Garze and Dege in Sichuan, Lhasa, Qamdo and Gyangda in Tibet, and Inner Mongolia. They returned with materials including hand-written copies, and woodblock printed editions of King Gesar, and paintings of Gesar. A total of 74 kinds of materials, some 20 million words in all, were translated into Chinese and published.

May 1962: The Qinghai People' s Publishing House published the Tibetan edition of King Gesar: Battle Between the Hor and Ling Tribes (I), which was turned into Chinese and published by the Shanghai Literature Publishing House.

1966-1986: The chaotic "cultural revolution'' engulfed whole China, and many works about Gesar were ruined. Huang Jingtao, Xu Guoqoin and Ngato (Tibetan) managed to preserve a considerable part of the epic.

1977: Ms Elfi published Songs of Tibetan King Gesar, which is a record of singing by eight Tibetan balladeers.

1979: Zhaba' s singing was recorded and part of the records were turned into written form.
Skatch Map of King Gesar Told in China.

1980: The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) held the Gesar work conference in Ermei, Sichuan for people from the Inner Mongolia and the Tibetan-inhabited areas in four provinces to exchange information and experience. It was decided during the conference that Gesar Work Report be published, and various localities concerned organize their own offices to be in charge of the material gathering and compiling work.

The Source of King Gesar was published in the former Soviet Union.

February 1981: The CASS held its second Gesar work conference. It was decided that a King Gesar translation and compilation group be organized. The group published the Gesar Work Report in March. R.A. Stein, Professor with Paris University, visited China in June, and held discussions with Chinese scholars in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

March 1982: Yunnan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences sent people to record King Gesar sung by folk balladeers in Deqen, Zhongdian, weixi and Lijiang. They returned with over 20 tapes of materials, and new discovery titled Chawalong Yongzhong.

The CASS held its third Gesar work conference in Beijing, and decided to organize the King Gesar translation and compilation coordinating group, which was formed officially in May.

August 1983: The CASS held a national conference in Guilin, Guangxi, deciding to publish 10 volumes of the epic. A Gesar office formed in July sent people to Ngari from July to September, and returned with materials including six kinds of hand-written copies, and recorded 16 stories about Gesar.

From August to September, the CASS visited Gannan' s five counties, and recorded singing by 32 folk balladeers in 75 tapes. Some recorded materials were new to all, including stories about fetching salt in Gyiacha and Gesar' s hat.

In August, the CASS held a meeting to discuss ethnic minorities' epic. About 40 percent of papers read at the meeting are about Gesar.

In September, the CASS enrolled students to study for MA in King Gesar.

Ms Walt Haixixi in Germany published the result of her study of Mongolian edition of King Geser.

Vice-Chairman Ngapoi Ngawang Jigmei attended a discussion meeting held to mark the publication of the Tibetan King Gesar. He told people around him:"I kept a hand-written copy of King Gesar but my parents refused to let me read the second part, as the first is about the battle between Hor and Ling tribes and the secong part tells how the Hor tribe is defeated. We are offspring of the Hor tribe."

February 1984: the CPC Publicity Department released a document complete with members of the national Gesar work leading group. Group members went to survey the Qamdo area in March-April, and returned with materials including 12 hand-written copies, and one wood-block printed copy.

In July, Yunnan held its concert for 18 folk balladeers to sing ///King Gesar.

March 1988: Yangling Dorje and 30 other NPC deputies put forward a motion for strengthened effort to compile and publish King Gesar. The motion was forwarded to the CASS in April for discussion among the national King Gesar leading group members. Biography of King Gesar by Jambian Gyamco and Wu Wei was published to tell Gesar' s whole life.

1989: The International Seminar on King Gesar was held in Chengdu.

1990: Donggar Lobsang Chilai and some other CPPCC members put forward a motion, suggesting more support for the King Gesar work. Special allocations were made for the compilation and publication of King Gesar. In December, Zhao Bingli' s King Gesar Study was published, which contains all works published up to 1989 in and outside China.

1991: Thanks to efforts made by the national King Gesar lading group and Hu Shen, President of the CASS, the science edition of Gesar was listed as a national project to be undertaken during the Eighth Five-Year Plan.

1992: Allocation totalling 6 million Yuan won approval for the publication of the King Gesar. The project started.

Having visited some 40 balladeers in the Tibetan areas, Yang Enhong completed her work titled Folk Poet Masters: Study of King Gesar Balladeers.

1996: Prof. Jambian Gyamco with the CASS started to teach the first group of Ph.D students specialized in the study of King Gesar.

June 1996: The first meeting was held to compile the 40-volume Tibetan edition of King Gesar. The Fourth International Seminar on King Gesar was held in Lanzhou.

1999: Prof. Jambian Gyamco' s Theory of Gesar was published as the supreme result of China' s study of the epic. The CASS sent its application for th 2002 Gesar Birth Anniversary to UNESCO. The first four volumes of the 40-volume King Gesar were published.