The China National Library opened its annual readers' festival Saturday by giving several lectures on the Tibetan epic "King Gesser" and recommending 26 books on "King Gesser" to readers.

The activity aims to promote knowledge on epics and help protect cultural diversity, said Yang Bingyan, executive vice-president of the China Society of Library Science.

"King Gesser", the world's longest epic poem, was written about1,000 years ago in Tibet and quickly spread around the Himalayan mountain region. It tells the story of an ancient Tibetan king who conquered the devils of other Tibetan tribes and made Tibet stable.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated 2002 and 2003 to mark the millenary of "King Gesser".

The world's longest epic, "King Gesser" is also the only epic now still active in people's lives.

A famous Tibetan old man Chagba, known as the modern Homer, died several years ago while singing after having recited the 25 parts of "King Gesser", which contains six million words or five books of "A Dream of Red Mansions", said Jambian Gyaco, a researcher on Tibet culture at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and also author of the book "Panchen -- the great master".

"Some people believed Buddhism is soul of the orient and King Gesser is also soul of Tibet culture. Only when you have studied the epic, can you understand the Tibetans living in snow-covered mountains on the roof of the world," Jambian Gyaco said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2003)