Collection of books on Tibetan epic released

A statue of King Gesar in Yushu, Qinghai province. XI'AN -- A new set of books, considered the most complete versions of the Tibetan epic King Gesar, was released Saturday at a book expo in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. "It took ten years to collect all these books, including many historic versions of the epic, and many of which are debuted for the first time," said Luo Yong, chairman of the Sichuan Publishing Group. The Epic of King Gesar tells the story of how an 11th century Tibetan demigod king conquered his enemies and helped ordinary people. The epic has been passed down orally by singers and illiterate herders or farmers from southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the northwestern province of Qinghai.