Party of ethnic migration and settlement

The Tangut, also known as the Western Xia moved to the highlands of western Sichuan sometime before the 10th century AD. They spoke Tangut language a now-extinct Qiangic language (Tibeto-Burman).

A nomadic tribe, the Tangut moved from place to place and eventually settled in West Sichuan. From the moment they entered this region they have undergone a process of sinicization, a term meaning the adoption of Chinese cultural characteristics. Eventually the Tangut state was founded in the year 982 by Li Deming. Known in the Chinese language as "Xi-Xia", the Tangut people called their state "phiow?-bjij?-lhjij-lhjij?", which translates to "The Great State of White and Lofty."

Since the Tangut's founding father, Li Deming, was not a very conservative ruler, the Tangut people began to absorb more and more of the Chinese culture that surrounded them, and soon the unique traditions and characteristics of the Tangut people began to fade.

Li Deming's more conservative son, Li Yuanhao, sought to restore and strengthen the Tangut people's identity by ordering the creation of an official Tangut script and by instituting laws that reinforced traditional cultural customs. One of the laws he mandated called for citizens to wear traditional ethnic apparel, and another required wearing hair short or shaving the head, as opposed to the Chinese custom at the time of wearing hair long and knotted. Rejecting the common Chinese name of "Li," he adopted a Tangut name and renamed the capital city "Xingqing".

In 1038, Li YuanHao claimed the title Emperor of the Tangut state, which continued to exist until it was destroyed by Genghis Khan in the year 1227.

The ancient Tangut capital was eventually rediscovered by Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov in 1907.

Reference websites : http://www.e-westchina.net