More than 100 scholars from around the world gathered on Monday for an international symposium on the Central Asian epics.

During the three-day event, the experts from Mongolia, China, Russia, the United States, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and UNESCO will share their research achievements on mythological and heroic epics.

Mongolian Minister for Culture, Sports and Tourism Tsedevdamba Oyungerel said the symposium was aimed at preserving the oral traditions.

The Mongolian epic, or Mongol Tuuli, was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2009.

Chao Gejin from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences briefed his peers on three major heroic epics in China's ethnic minority communities - Manas, Janggar and Geser.