Finding the ‘Epic of Jangar’: the literary construction of an early Oirat epic in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the early reform period in China beginning in 1978, intellectuals and government agencies expended significant resources collecting, ‘revising’, and publishing folk literature in collaboration with local folk artists and amateur collectors. While folk artists were encouraged to re-engage with past folk practices, academics were required to analyze and preserve this ‘folk culture’ ‘scientifically’, ‘objectively’, and ‘correctly’. This paper utilizes oral narratives of surviving agents and related materials to follow the politicized process of collection, ‘revision’, and publication of what would be called the ‘Epic of Jangar’ of Xinjiang’s Oirat Mongols. Through this process, a unified narrative began to emerge that assisted in the construction of a unique ‘excellent’ Mongol – but above all Chinese-Mongol – culture. Through textualization, historical ritualized socializing performances were systematically decontextualized and simultaneously recontextualized as a great contribution to Chinese national literature.