Three picture books on Tibetan legend to be released

With "King Gesar: Trials and Tribulations," a film made for children about legendary Tibetan hero Gesar, set to debut soon, the China Welfare Institute Publishing House will publish three picture books based on the movie.

Both the movie and the books aim to promote Tibetan culture and celebrate China's diversity, said the publisher.

King Gesar is reputedly the world's longest epic, with around a million lines. The epic, believed to date from the 12th century, describes the heroic deeds of the cultural hero Gesar, the fearless lord of the legendary kingdom of Ling.

It is inherited mainly through the speech-singing art and is deemed to be on par with the epic works of Homer in ancient Greece and the "Epic of Gilgamesh" from ancient Sumeria. In 2009, it was included in UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The three books entitled "King Gesar: the Young Hero" depict the hero's life, including his birth, suffering and his fight against evil forces, where he led people in his tribe to live a peaceful and thriving life, according to the publisher.

They are expected to encourage children to be brave and kind-hearted like Gesar and inspire them to think about solutions to problems in life.

The colorful and vivid pictures in the books feature characteristics of traditional Tibetan thangka art works. Readers will be able to appreciate typical Tibetan landscape, including snowy mountains, lush steppes, boundless flower clusters, tents, yaks, prayer flags and snow lotuses.

The book texts include some speech-singing lines which are folk songs popular in Tibet now.