Western Xia Dynasty culture

1. Custom before Establishing West Xia
A man could marry several women. The polygamy was popular even in the early days of West Xia especially in the ruling group. Wizard was more popular to the patients than usual doctor. It was believed that the wizard could drive the devil. The above custom indicates that the undeveloped politics, economy and culture.

2. Language
The characters of West Xia imitated Chinese characters. According to the relics the two kinds of characters were used both in ordinary people and ruling group. Chinese characters played an important role in the culture of West Xia.

The excavated book Pan Han He Shi Zhang Zhong Zhu is a dictionary of West Xia language and Chinese. The book was a tool of language learning for West Xia people and Chinese. Another book Zazi collects characters in the categories of sky, earth and human being, including dress, wood, vegetable, grass, grain, names, items etc. In the period of West Xia, many classic historic and Buddhist works were translated into West Xia language, so it was influential. In 1302 Yuan Dynasty, Dazang Sutra was engraved in Dawanshou Temple in West Xia characters.

3．Science
West Xia adopted the then advanced printing technology from Chinese central plains. Most of the discovered books are printed by the technology. The oldest one was printed in 1085. According to a report from former Soviet, in 1908 Russian army stole 345 Buddhist sutra printed in West Xia characters in Inner-Mongolia.

West Xia attached importance to calendar so many astronomic and natural phenomena were recorded in detail including earth quake, comets, solar and lunar eclipse. These records are precious material for researching law of the natural phenomena.

After the establishment of West Xia, affected by Chinese, the Chinese traditional medicine was introduced and widely adopted.

West Xia established law system according to that of Song Dynasty. There were many tribes rebelled and resisted the rule of West Xia. To ease the friction, it established relief law. To protect the ruling, the laws of West Xia were gradually perfected.

West Xia once sent envoys to the central plains and they wrote many geographic books. West Xia also had officials responsible for writing historic books. However none of these books can be found today.

To keep up with the political and economic development, West Xia attached importance to feudal education and adopted Tang and Song Dynasty's imperial examinations. West Xia translated a lot of Confucian classic works. The education played an important role in merging with Han. But it also made the ruling group more conservative and decaying.

The mixture of both cultures and ethnics, Chinese and Non-Chinese, resulted in the adaption of both Chinese customs and beliefs by the Tanguts and the familiarization of the Chinese with Tangut customs. One example a Non-Chinese custom adapted by the Chinese is the short-haired or even bold-head fashion. While the Chinese used to wear their hair long and knotted below a cap, the Non-Chinese of various origin shaved their heads. In many aspects, Western Xia pictorial art was dominated by religious themes. We find many wall paintings and Buddha and Bodhisattva statues in the grottoes of Mogao near Dunhuang Gansu as well as in the Yulin Grottoes near Anxi Gansu, and the ruins of Heishui near Ejina Banner Inner Mongolia. But these paintings do not only represent Buddhas and other deities, but also depict scenes of daily life, from court ceremonies down to the production of iron and farming peasants. Archeologists have unearthed many objects of daily life, like coins, seals, amulets, with Chinese and Tangut inscriptions, weapons, golden bowls, buckles, brooches, silver bowls, and stone animals flanking the entrance to the imperial tombs. Most of these objects resemble Chinese things, like the dragon-adorned pillars unearthed from one of the imperial tombs near Yinchuan. Porcelain resembles the Song style in shape, but is much coarser. A very popular technique was to cover white-bodied porcelain with a dark glaze, and then to scribe out patterns of flowers from the black surface. The flowers were black, and the original body of the vessel reappeared between the flowers and leafs. A very common type was a flat ceramic drinking bottle with two or four ears to hog-tie the bottle on a camel's saddle. Of the architecture of the Western Xia, not much is left. There are vast ruins of the capital Xingqing and the city of where the foundations of the palaces, temples and private houses are preserved, as well as the imperial tombs west of the old capital. Of the monasteries, pagodas can be seen in the Chengtian Monastery, the double pagodas of the double monastery Bai-Kou, the Ganying Pagoda in the Huguo Monastery; and the Monastery of the Reclining Buddha. The technology of priniting with wooden movable types was well-developed under Western Xia rule, and there are many books and fragments preserved written in Tangut language and Tangut script. Many traditional Chinese writings like Confucian Classics and military treatises, but also Buddhist writings, were translated into Tangutian. But Tanguts also wrote several poems in Chinese, like Emperor Chongzong in person. Chinese music was also widespread among the Tangut ruling class.

Although the Tanguts originally believed in a natural religion with spirits, shamans (Tangut-Chinese: siji or siye ) and priests, and underwent a cremation of their deads (huozang) instead of an entombment (tuzang ), a large proportion of the population soon adapted Buddhism as their religion. All over the country, monasteries with pagodas were erected, and even members of the ruling class lived in Buddhist monasteries for some years. Tangut monks translated many sutras into their own language. The still existing pagodas can be seen in the Chengtian Monastery, the double pagodas of the double monastery Bai-Kou, and the Ganying Pagoda in the Huguo Monastery (modern Weiwu Gansu), where a large plate was discovered that is inscribed with Chinese and Tangut characters. A very interesting spot are the 108 Lamaist stupas in the Qingtongxia District. From the 11th century on, Lamaism won believers in the Tangut empire. Religions of smaller importance were the Chinese Daoism, the Christian Nestorianism, and Islam. The Tangut emperors were buried in large burying mounds whose ruins are scattered in the area west of the old capital Xinqing (now Yinchuan/Ningxia). During the Western Xia period, wall paintings were produced in the old grottoes of Mogao near Dunhuang Gansu as well as in the Yulin Grottoes near Anxi, and the ruins of Heishui near Ejina Banner Inner Mongolia. These findings are important for the understanding of Tangut daily life.

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