Milestone discovery

Continuous studies on Xixia Imperial Tombs may open a new horizon to gradually fit the jigsaw puzzles together and form a big picture.

In the early 20th century, a great amount of literature in Tangut scripts was discovered by foreign explorers at the Heishuicheng site in nearby Ejine Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which was later identified as an ancient Xixia city.

The Heishuicheng literature, which is about various aspects of Xixia society, was regarded a milestone discovery in ancient literary artifacts.

"It provides very important basic materials for us. Without the literature, studies of Xixia would not have developed to the current level," says Shi Jinbo, a veteran historian from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences specializing in the studies of Xixia.