Chinese artists are working hard to preserve the legend of King Gesser, the Tibetan hero whose story has been passed by word of mouth generation after generation, in silk paintings.

Thirty-two noted folk artists have converged on Dege county, southwest China's Sichuan province, which is said to be the birthplace of King Gesser, and started a huge project to "tell" the epic in 1,008 thangkas, the traditional silk paintings of Tibet.

"This will be the first time that the Tibetan hero has appeared in traditional silk paintings," said Gengqiu Zhaxi, a private entrepreneur and the project sponsor.

Telling the full story of a great ancient king who conquered the devils of other Tibetan tribes and made Tibet a stable, peaceful and happy place to live in, the 10-million-word King Gesser epic was created over 1,000 years ago and is the longest epic in the world, longer than the Greek epic, Homer, and the Mahabharata, a famous Indian epic.

Genqiu said the artists had spent six months raising money and inviting leading Tibetologists and experts of King Gesser as advisers before the project was launched on Jan. 1.

"So far we have raised more than 10 million yuan (about US$1.2 million). Each thangka will present a vivid and life-like story about Gesser and the whole project is expected to be completed in three to five years," said Genqiu.
 
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2004)