Oral Tradition Volume 16, Number 2October 2001
About the Authors
Song Heping
Song Heping is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She graduated from the Department of Ethnic Minority Language and Literature, Central Institute for Nationalities in 1966. Her interests include Manchu literature and shamanistic studies. She is the author of A Translation with Annotations of Manchu Shaman Sacred-Songs (1993) and A Study on Nishan Shamans (1998), and the co-author of Research on Manchu Shaman Texts (1997).
Lang Ying
Lang Ying is Senior Researcher and Deputy Director of the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Her extensive work on Uygur and Turkic Literatures and on Northern Chinese Epic Studies is reflected in the following sample of her works: Manas: A Hero Epic from Chinese Ethnic Minority Traditions (1990), Manas: Comments and Analysis (1991), Kudathu Bilik (Wisdom of Felicity and Happiness) and West-Oriental Cultures (1992), and On the Epic Manas (1999).
Bai Gengsheng
Bai Gengsheng is Deputy Chairman of the Chinese Association of Folk Artists. His work focuses primarily on Nakhi literature and arts. He is one of the first scholars from the Nakhi ethnic minority to publish his work in translation. His most recent books include On the Symbolism of Domba Mythology (1998), A Study of Domba Mythology (1999), and Nakhi Color Culture (2001).
Zhalgaa
Zhalgaa’s research presently centers on historical literature derived from The Secret History of the Mongols. He is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The author of many articles on Mongolian literature and the relations between Mongolian and Han literatures, he has also written A Storied Building with a Single Floor: Weeping for the Red Pavilion, and Dream of the Red Chamber (1984), The Chronicle of Yinjannasi’s Life (1991), and A Critical Biography of Yinjannasi (1994).
Zhambei Gyaltsho
Zhambei Gyaltsho (Vjam-dpal-rgya-mtsho) (also known as Jiangbian Jiacuo) is a Tibetan scholar serving as Senior Researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Director of the Leading Group for Gesar Studies. He is the author of Primary Exploration on Gesar (1986), The Historical Fate of Gesar (collection, 1989), The Epic Gesar and Tibetan Culture (1994), and On the Epic Gesar (1999).
Yang Enhong
Yang Enhong currently serves as Senior Researcher and Director of the Division of Tibetan Literature at the Institute of Ethnic Literature, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. She has closely studied performances by singers of the epic Gesar and published many articles in this field. She is the author of Investigations and Research into Singers of the Epic Gesar (1995) and Gesar: A Heroic Epic from Chinese Ethnic Minority Traditions (1990).
Li Lianrong
Li Lianrong (Brtson-vgrus-rgya-mtsho) is Assistant Researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where he focuses on the Tibetan epic Gesar. After completing his doctoral dissertation, On the Creation and Development of Gesar Epic Studies in China: 1959-1996, he began researching the texts and performances of Gesar. He has recently published a paper entitled “The Theoretical Construction of Gesar Studies: Early Chinese Epic Scholarship” (2001).
Xie Jisheng
Xie Jisheng received his M.A. in Tibeto-Burmese Language and Literature from the Central Institute for Nationalities and his Ph.D. in Buddhist Art from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Currently he is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Nationalities at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, specializing in Tibetan Art. He is the author of A Study of Tibetan Prayer Flags or rLung-rTa (1996) and Tangut Painting in the Tibetan Style (2001).
Wu Xiaodong
Wu Xiaodong, of the Miao ethnic minority, is Assistant Researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where his primary field of study is Miao oral tradition. Recent publications include “Panhu Myth and the War Between the Ancient Chu and Lu-rong Tribes” (2000) and “The Dissemination of Flood Myth in Miao Borderlands as a Reflection on the Struggles Between Ancient Miao Tribes and East Yi Groups” (1999). He has also just published Miao Totem and Mythology (2002).
Rinchindorji
Senior Researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Rinchindorji has devoted many years of research to Mongolian literature and epic studies, as evinced by his numerous articles and books. Among these are A Collection of Essays on Mongolian Folk Literature (1986), Jangar: A Hero Epic from Chinese Ethnic Minority Traditions (1990), On the Epic Jangar (1999), and On the Origin and Development of Mongolian Heroic Epics (2001).
Chao Gejin
Chao Gejin (Chogjin) is Senior Researcher and Director of the Institute of Ethnic Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His research interests cover folkloristics, oral tradition, intangible cultural heritage, and Chinese ethnic minorities’ literatures, especially oral epics. His publications include The Heroic Songs of the Past: Fieldnotes on the Oirat Mongolian Epic Tradition (2004) and Oral Poetics: Formulaic Diction of Arimpi’s Jangar Singing (2000), as well as numerous papers.
Deng Minwen
Deng Minwen, of the Dong minority, is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; his research interests are Dong Oral Tradition and its literary representations. His books include On The Literary History of China’s Many Ethnic Groups (1995), The History of Literary Relations between Southern Ethnic Groups (vol. 2, 2001) and On Divine Judgments (1991). He is editor-in-chief of The History of Dong Literature (1998) and co-author of The Kingdom Without a King: A Study on Dong Kuan (1995).
Bamo Qubumo
Bamo Qubumo (Bamo Qubbumo) is currently writing her doctoral dissertation on Nuosu epic tradition at Beijing Normal University. She often returns to the Cold Mountains, her birthplace, to conduct field research on various aspects of Bimo culture and Yi narrative traditions. She is Associate Researcher and Deputy Director of the Division of Southern Ethnic Literature at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Her publications include The Golden-Eagle Spirit and The Poetic Soul: The Poetics of Ancient Yi Scripture (2000).
