Western Xia Literature Studies

The ancient documents of Khara-Khoto were the greatest archaeological discoveries in the early 20th century . Several thousands of documents and cultural relics from the 10th to 13th century were lost in Russia, British and France etc.when they were unearthed . Taking the chance of participating in compiling the Xixia documents in British and French collections, the author investigates and studies the documents conserved overseas on the spot and accumulates abundant information and study experience . Based on direct investigation , this paper describes the history of Xixia and Khara-Khoto in brief, gives Xixia documents new concept namely the documents of the early Dangxiang age , Xixia , the late Xixia age , Yuan and Ming dynasties , discusses the history and actuality of the exchange between the Russian , British and French collections , analyzes some typical pieces in both secular and Buddhist documents and studies the characters of the school of Xixia Buddhism . According to personal experience, the author studies the features of the studies on the editions of Xixia documents from six aspects including the analysis of paper, printing, edition, print, layout and the eight inscriptions of the king, queen , minister, monk, worshipper and house owner. This paper based on the Russian , British , French and other collections, takes the catalogue of different schools and tries to compile《The catalogue of Xixia documents》in order to compel further studies on the Xixia documents. The innovative significance of this paper lies in its presenting the relationship between the collections , recording the catalogue made by Stain and in French collections , disclosing the difference and relation among three ages of Xixia documents , studying the trend of the school of Xixia Buddhism , and compiling the complete catalogue of Xixia documents etc.