Chao Gejin
Chogjin/朝戈金
program
Visiting Scholar
Years of Stay at HYI
Sep 1995 to Jun 1996
University Affiliation (Current)
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
University Affiliation
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Gejin Chao (Chogjin) is a Mongolian from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. He received his Ph.D. in Folklore from Beijing Normal University. He serves as Academician Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Institute of Ethnic Literature (IEL), CASS; and Board Member of the Graduate School of CASS. He also acts as President of the China Ethnic Literature Society (CELS, 2004- ), President of the China Folklore Society (CFS, 2010- ), Vice-President of Conseil international de la philosophie et des sciences humaines (CIPSH, 2008- ), and President of the International Society for Epic Studies (ISES, 2012- ), as well as editorial board member of several journals, including Oral Tradition (in the U.S.), Diogenes, Chinese Social Sciences, Folklore Studies, Forum on Folk Culture, Cultural Heritage, Studies of Ethnic Literature, Annuals of Chinese Literature, and Leading-edge Reports on Humanities and Social Science in China amongst others. He has been commissioned to be the Chief Expert for the key project “Studies in China Ethnic Culture and Language” by the National Fund for Social Sciences since 2010.
Gejin Chao has extensively engaged in the field of Intangible Cultural Heritage at local, national and international levels, playing a consultative role in Chinese cultural policies, such as Member of Expert Council of National Project for Safeguarding China Folk Cultural Heritage (2002- ), Board Member of National Expert Committee for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in China (2004- ), Member of Expert Group of Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China (2007- ) , and examiner appointed by the Bureau of Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNESCO (2009), as well as Governing Board Member of the International Training Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the Auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP, 2012- ).
Gejin Chao specializes in Oral Tradition, focusing on Mongolian epic singing. He conducted fieldwork in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia and his many essays and papers have appeared in a wide spectrum of journals in China and beyond. He has published a book entitled Oral Poetics: Formulaic Diction of Arimpil’s Jangar Singing (2000), a field study report entitled “Heroic Songs of the Past: Fieldnotes on the Oirat Mongolian Epic Tradition” (2004), and a Chinese translation from John Miles Foley’s work The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology, which came to Chinese readers’ view in 2000, with a revised edition forthcoming soon. He is also the co-editor of Monggul Bagaturlig Tuuli-in Chigulgan (The Collection of the Mongolian Heroic Epics, Vol.1-4, 2007-2010, in Mongolian).
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