Xixia characters are also called Hexi charactersThesis, Tang Gu Tewen, a recordXixiaDangxiang nationalityThe words of the language.It belongs to the ideographic system,Sino Tibetan language familyQiang branch of.Xixia peopleThe language ofQiang languageandMuya The relationship is the closest.Xixia JingzongLi YuanhaoIn the first year of Daqing before the official title of emperor, the minister was appointedYeli RenrongCreation.It was completed in three years, with a total of more than 5000 characters. The shape is square, the strokes are tedious, and the structure is similar to Chinese characters, which has its own characteristics.Once inXixia DynastyToday under its jurisdictionNingxia, GansuShaanxiNorthInner MongoliaIt has been popular for about two centuries in the southern and other vast geographical belts.During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it was still popular in some areas for about three centuries.Western Xia expertLi FanwenIt is believed that the total number of Xixia characters is 5917, while the actual number of meaningful characters is 5857.
(Overview of photo sources[1]）
Chinese name
Tangut
Alias
Hexi characters、Thesis、Tang Ancient Special Script
Xixia is also known asHexi characters、Thesis、Tang Ancient Special Script, some scholars also writeXixia characters, is a recordXixiaDangxiang nationalityWords of language, ofIdeographic system, which is imitated from the Western Xia Dynastychinese charactersCreated.There are 12 volumes of compilation scripts, which are designated as "national scripts" by the Western Xia Dynasty.The Xixia people wrote in Xixia characters from Buddhist scriptures and edicts to folk letters.In order to facilitate people to learn Xixia characters, Xixia also compiled a dictionary.Xixia died in 1227Mongol Empire The Xixia characters also gradually disappeared.Since the discovery of Xixia characters, these dictionaries, as well as a number of Buddhist scriptures and calligraphy works, have been mostly found in western Inner Mongolia.Xixia GenusSino Tibetan language familyOfQiangic , with modernQiang languageIt is most closely related to the Muya language.
In 1036 AD (the first year of Daqing), before Li Yuanhao, Emperor Jingzong of the Western Xia Dynasty, formally proclaimed himself emperor, he ordered the ministerYeri RenrongCreate Xixia characters.It was completed in three years, with a total of more than 5000 characters. It is square in shape and has numerous strokes. It is also called Tibetan script or Tibetan script.The structure imitates Chinese characters and has its own characteristics.Use dot, horizontal, vertical, left-handed, pressed, crutch, crutch and other groups of characters. There are many oblique pens, but no vertical hooks.There are fewer simple words, and most of them are compound words.Most of the words are composed of two words, and few of them are composed of three or four words.Generally, only one part of a word is used for composition, such as the upper part, lower part, left part, right part, middle part, most part, and sometimes the whole part of a word.Comprehensive compound characters and phono semantic compound characters are similar to those of Chinese characters, accounting for about 80% of the total.Some transliteration characters are synthesized from each part of the inverted upper and lower characters, similar to Pinyin characters.Some words are formed by the interchange of the left and right or upper and lower parts of another word.Most of the two characters are synonyms.There are few pictographs and indicators.Book styleRegular script、that 's ok、grass、Seal character, regular script is mostly used for engraving, seal script is scattered in gold and stone, and cursive is often used for handwriting.[1]
The creation of characters is an important symbol of the development of national culture to a mature stage. In terms of ideological exchange and cultural inheritance, Xixia characters giveDangxiang nationalityIt brings great convenience, and also enables later generations to study this culture andTangut National languages become possible.[2]
(Data source of atlas[3]）
Text Introduction
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Grammatical structure
Xixia characters have their unique grammatical structure.In a sentence, the predicate verb is often at the end, the object is placed in front of the verb, and the adjective is sometimes placed before the noun, sometimes after the noun.After long-term research by scholars at home and abroad, they have some understanding of the laws of the Xixia language, but many problems still need to be further explored.[1]
Grapheme structure
Xixia characters on rock paintings[2]
The Xixia script is a brand new square script independent of Chinese characters, which is similar to Chinese characters at first sight, because it is re created by imitating the character formation method of Chinese characters and borrowing the basic strokes of Chinese characters.Its basic strokes also have the same points, horizontal, vertical, left-handed, left-handed and right-handed as Chinese characters, but there is no common vertical hook of Chinese characters, and oblique strokes such as left-handed and right-handed are used more.Because there are many strokes and complex structures, and many numbers are more than ten strokes, it is difficult to recognize and write. Even the simplest number in Chinese characters is quite complicated when it comes to Xixia Wenli.
The Xixia script was created by imitating Chinese characters. The calligraphy of Chinese characters has five styles: Zhuan, Li, Zhen, Xing and Cao. The authentic script is regular script.The four styles of seal script, regular script, line script and cursive script have been found in the documents handed down from generation to generation in the Western Xia Dynasty, but no official script has been found.When discussing the relationship between the Western Xia language and the Chinese language, the Dangxiang people also said: "The end of the discussion is different, and the text is the same.".[1]
Comparison with Chinese characters
[Common features]
1. Both belong to ideographic writing system;
2. The shape is approximate and square;
3. Similar word formation methods;
4. Some shapes have stroke flexibility in different parts;
5. There are regular script, running script, cursive script and seal script;
6. Some words are influenced by the nationalist views of rulers.
[Difference]
1. There are few characters below five paintings and above twenty paintings in Xixia, which are relatively uniform;
2. There are many oblique strokes in the Xixia language, that is to say, there are plenty of left and right strokes;
3. Xixia has more ideographic characters than Chinese, and Chinese has more pictophonetic characters than Xixia;
4. The anti tangent up and down character synthesis method similar to the pinyin construction has become a system;
5. The formation of Xixia characters generally omits form and sound, while Chinese characters are individual phenomena;
6. There are very few pictographic and event indicating characters in Xixia, and the ideographic part of the characters does not represent the object shape.[4]
Usage
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Sun Tzu's Art of War[2]
Western Xia isXixia DynastyText created and used.As a "national character", Xixia script has been popular for about two centuries in the vast areas of Ningxia, Gansu, northern Shaanxi, southern Inner Mongolia and other regions under the jurisdiction of the Xixia Dynasty.During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Xixia script still existed in some areas for about three centuries.stayXixiaThe application scope of "" is very wide, such as official documents, legal regulations, trial records, business deeds, literary works, historical books, dictionaries, inscriptions, seals, symbols, coins, and translations from ChineseTibetanBuddhist scriptures, etc.Western Xia isXixia CultureIts use never stopped in the whole Xixia period.After the demise of the Western Xia Dynasty, its descendants continued to use it to a certain extent until the middle of the Ming Dynasty, which became a powerful evidence to explore the traces of the descendants of the Western Xia Dynasty.[2]After the creation of Xixia characters, they were revered as the national characters of Xixia, and were ordered to be implemented. They were used to write various documents, and were widely used.After the demise of Xixia, Xixia script was still used.here we areYuan dynastyTime (1227 AD)Hexi characters, and its culture has not completely disappeared, people in the Yuan Dynasty used it to engrave a large number ofthe buddhist scripture；In the early Ming Dynasty, scriptures in Xixia were also printedthe ming dynastyIn the middle period, some people carved scriptures in Xixia characters.In modern timesDunhuang Mogao GrottoesFound the Xixia textTripitaka SutraIt took about 500 years since the creation of characters.
Origin of word making
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Why did you make characters
Written record
Dangxiang nationalityBefore they moved in, they still lived a nomadic life of "not knowing the harvest, not knowing the soil", "cattle, horses, donkeys, sheep to feed on". They "live by water and grass, but wait for grass to age".The social form is still inPrimitive societyPatrilineal clan communeAt the end of the period, the level of productivity was low, and there were no taxes or words.After immigration, due to the long-term influence of various ethnic groups, especially the Han civilization, social economy and culture have made great progress, and formed a stable regime before the establishment of the Western Xia Dynasty.Dangxiang nationalityAfter hundreds of years of migration, we have constantly absorbed the advanced technology and culture of other nations, which has accelerated the feudal process of our nation. With rapid social development and frequent foreign exchanges, it is very necessary to have characters that can record our national language for communication.This is the social reason for the creation of Xixia language.The rulers of the Western Xia Dynasty wanted to be on an equal footing with the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty. If they didn't have their own words when communicating with each other, they seemed inferior.This is the need of creating the political and national psychology of the Western Xia language.The absence of words is not only inconvenient for communication between people, but also hinders the development of culture and education, which is the cultural reason for creating the Xixia language.The Xixia Dynasty advocated Buddhism, and the Dangxiang people, including the Xixia royal family, were devout and faithful to Buddhism.It is necessary to translate Buddhist scriptures in Xixia language that Dangxiang people can understand and understand, which is the religious reason for creating Xixia language.In short, Xixia was born with the rapid development of the Dangxiang nationality.Especially on the eve of the founding of the Western Xia Dynasty, due to the need for an independent political and economic situation, the culture also needs to be separated from the mother body of the Han civilization.[5]In the development of productivity and the impact of other national cultures, the Dangxiang culture has undergone a qualitative change, and the creation of characters is a remarkable manifestation of this qualitative change.On the eve of the founding of the Western Xia Dynasty, in order to further highlight the characteristics of the national culture of the Dangxiang nationality, Yuan Hao ordered the creation of a text recording the language of the Dangxiang nationality, namely the Xixia language.[2]
Orthographic method
The Law of the Creation of Xixia Characters[1]
The creation of Xixia refers to the“Six Books”In theory, characters are created by using the synthesis method, that is, some character elements are created first, that is, the commonly said root or parent characters, and then more Xixia characters are reproduced by using the synthesis method.[2]
Xixia characters are square ideographs, which can be divided into simple characters and compound characters.There are fewer simple characters, and the majority are combined characters.Among the combined characters, the number of compound characters similar to the Chinese ideograph and the number of compound characters similar to the Chinese pictophonetic characters are the most.For example, the Xixia characters "water" and "soil" are used to synthesize the Xixia characters "mud".The combination of inverted upper and lower characters, interchange characters and symmetric characters are very distinctive, which are the special methods of Xixia characters.[4]
In Xixia characters, most of them are composed characters, except for a few characters created directly by using character elements.There are six synthesis methods, including understanding, sound meaning, symmetry, interchange, antithesis, and long sound.For example:
Synopsis: a part of the word "water" in Western Xia+the word "soil" (mud)
Sound meaning synthesis method: a part of Xixia characters pronounced "Ling"+a part of Xixia characters "Silk" to synthesize Xixia characters ""
Inverse synthesis method: a part of the Xixia character pronounced "wife"+a part of the Xixia character pronounced "cause" to synthesize the Xixia character of the Han nationality's "Qin" surname.
Long sound synthesis method: a part of Xixia characters with pronunciation of "A"+a part of Xixia characters with meaning of "Long", to synthesize the long sound.
After the creation of the Western Xia language, Yuan Hao ordered the implementation of the middle kingdom, and the people were instructed to use the Tibetan script.It established the status of Xixia literature in the form of laws and regulations, and set up the "Tibetan Academy" in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China to select the children of Xixia aristocrats to teach them, with a view to spreading.Therefore, the Xixia language soon became popular in the country of Xixia.After the demise of the Western Xia Dynasty, a small number of Dangxiang descendants still used the Western Xia language until the middle of the Ming Dynasty.Since then, it has been drowned by history and become a kind of death text.In 1804 (the ninth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty)《Rebuilding the Gantong Tower Stele of Liangzhou Huguo Temple》After the discovery, scholars re confirmed that the characters on the stele were Xixia characters, which had been in decline for a long time, according to the comparison between the characters on the stele and Xixia characters and the dating.[1-2]
Time of making characters
There are many records about the creation time of Xixia script in Chinese history books.However, due to the mutual contradiction recorded in several major documents, another "official case" has emerged on the issue of creating time and creating people.The Chinese historical records record the time when the Western Xia literature was created. One group believes that it was the period of Li Deming, the father of the first generation of the emperor of the Western Xia Dynasty.According to the Liao History, Li Deming "made twelve volumes of Tibetan script, and made characters like seal characters".At that time, the so-called "Fan Shu" was the Xixia language that later generations said.The other is that it was created in the Yuan Hao period.The History of the Song Dynasty records that "Yuan Hao made his own Tibetan calligraphy, which was interpreted by Ye Lirenrong. It was written in twelve volumes, with square shapes and eight parts of the style, and the paintings were quite repetitive."[5]
Textual research
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show the initial symptoms
The famousJuyonguan Great WallNext, there is one forWhite marbleThe exquisite Yuntai is a national key cultural relics protection unit.There are south-north arches at the lower part of the cloud pedestal, and the door opening is more than 6 meters wide, which can be used for cars and horses.The inner wall of the Yuntai doorway is also made of huge stones, engraved with 6 kinds of characters, and arranged on two walls, with different shapes and calligraphies.Among them, we already knowSanskrit, ChineseTibetan、Baspa、UighurThere is also an unknown language.In 1870, Wei Lie, an Englishman, determined that this kind of writing was a "Jurchen writing" created in the 12th century Jin Dynasty.Twelve years later, the French scholar De Villia decided that this kind of writing was notJurchen , because it is different from the Jurchen script on the known banquet platform tablet in Kaifeng, Henan, it is suspected that it may be in Xixia script.Another 13 years later, he wrote again to argue that this kind of writing is Xixia, but it is still difficult to decide.For this reason, British and French scholars have been involved in a written lawsuit for nearly 20 years.
Before that, famous scholars in the Qing DynastyZhang ShuIn 1804 (Jiaqing Jiazi Year)Wu WeiRecuperate from illness.When you visited the Qingying Temple, you opened a stone tablet pavilion, which had been closed for a long time. After you opened it, you saw a high tablet, on which the characters were square and neat, and the characters seemed to be recognizable, but when you looked carefully, none of them could be recognized.The other side of the monument is engraved with Chinese characters, including the model year of the monument: Tianyou Min'an, five years old, Wuzi, fifteen years old in Jiaxu.God bless the people is the year of the Western Xia Dynasty. Zhang Shu concluded that the unknown characters carved on the monument were the characters of the Western Xia State.This stone tablet is the famous "Rebuilding the Sentiment Tower Tablet of Liangzhou Huguo Temple".Zhang Shu's accidental discovery not only made this important cultural relic reappear in the world, but also made the dead Xixia literature known to the world again.Zhang Shu was the first scholar who clearly identified the Xixia language.He recorded this important discovery in the article "After the Monument of Heaven Blessing the People in Western Xia Dynasty", which was published in the Collection of Yang Su Tang in 1837.However, Zhang Shu's important discovery has not attracted the attention of the academic community.When British and jurists discussed repeatedly, Zhang Shu's ready-made answer was already available.De Villia, a French scholar, did not confirm that this writing was Xixia until he researched Liangzhou Stele in 1898 in his article Research on Xixia Characters.
discovery of great importance
In the 20th century, China made several major discoveries in historical documents, which made major breakthroughs in many important fields of humanities, such asYin ruinsThe discovery of oracle bones, Dunhuang stone chamber documents and a large number of bamboo slips.However, there is another important discovery that should be paid enough attention by the academic community, that is, the precious Xixia documents unearthed at the site of Heishui City in the early last century.
Russian explorers in 1908 and 1909KozlovOrganized twice Yeskhara-khoto A large number of cultural relics and documents related to the Western Xia Dynasty have been found.The literature of Heishui City in Russia is mainly Xixia literature, with a large proportion of quantity and finished version, more than 8000 numbers and thousands of volumes.There are more than 500 kinds of Xixia documents in Heishui City, including nearly 100 kinds of secular documents alone.Before the 20th century, there was no Xixia literature in the world. In the 21st century, Xixia literature has accounted for a large proportion of medieval literature.It can be said that the discovery of Xixia documents in Heishui City changed the distribution pattern of Chinese ancient books.
Stein, a famous explorer from England, went to Blackwater City in 1914 to find and excavate many relics of the Western Xia Dynasty, which were hidden inBritish Museum。Birch in France and Svenhedin in Sweden also obtained some Western Xia documents, which were respectively stored in the Paris Library in France and the Stockholm Museum of Ethnology in Sweden.In addition, India and Vietnam also have some Xixia documents lost from China.
In 1917, many Buddhist scriptures in Xixia language were found in Lingwu County (now Lingwu County, Ningxia), most of which entered TibetNational Library of ChinaSome were hidden in Ningxia and Gansu, and some were lost to Japan.These documents make the National Library of China the place with the most Xixia documents in China.After the founding of New ChinaTianti Mountain、DunhuangWuwei, Yinchuan, NingxiaHelan Mountain, Inner Mongoliakhara-khoto , Lvcheng and other places have found many Xixia documents.It has formed a treasure house of Xixia literature, mainly composed of the documents of Heishui City in Russia and collected in many places at home and abroad.These documents are rare and rare books with high academic value.
Contemporary textual research
As the key to the Western Xia culture, the complete interpretation of the Western Xia language is crucial to the study of the Western Xia.After the famous scholar of Xixia StudiesLi FanwenIt has been studied for 25 years. In 1997, the first and only Xixia dictionary in China《Xia Han Dictionary》Publication provides a "golden key" for deciphering Xixia language and opening the treasure house of Xixia documents.In 2008, the Concise Xia Han Dictionary was revised and published under the auspices of Li Fanwen.
On October 11-12, 2012, at the Xixia Academic Seminar held in Yinchuan, Ningxia University Xixia scholarsZhang YingshengIt is believed that "several generations of Chinese and foreign scholars have carried out extensive, in-depth and detailed discussions on the corresponding relationship between Xixia characters and Chinese characters, the basic elements of Xixia characters' form, sound and meaning, the structural mode of Xixia characters, the pronunciation of Xixia characters, and the interpretation of the meaning of Xixia characters. At present, the research of Xixia characters is approaching the stage of establishing a complete system."
Dean of Xixia Academy of Ningxia UniversityDu JianluHe said: "In the 21st century, digital methods will be widely used in the study of Xixia. Xixia literature database, Xixia site database, Xixia cultural relics database, Xixia research database, etc. will be built and opened to the academic community."
Related research
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At the end of 1992, Professor Li Fanwen, an expert on Western Xia culture in China, completed the Xia Han Dictionary after 20 years of hard work, and made a detailed textual research on the number of Western Xia characters.After a detailed research on each word in the Xia Han Dictionary, Li Fanwen believes that the total number of Xixia characters is 5917, while the number of meaningful words is 5857.
With the efforts of relevant experts from the Ningxia Academy of Social Sciences, Xixia characters were also entered into the computer.Some experts believe that the Xixia characters, which are "all characters at a distance, not characters at a distance", can be entered by computer, which greatly facilitates personal computer writing and the printing of formal books and periodicals, and better solves the problem that Xixia characters are still written by hand in the electronic era.
Inner MongoliaEjina BannerXixia Dictionary Unearthed in Heishui City《Wenhai》It has the most complete collection of words with "Yin Tong".These two dictionaries were compiled by the Dangxiang people in the Western Xia Dynasty, which provided a wealth of material materials for the further study of the language and characters of the Western Xia Dynasty. At the same time, a dictionary, "Tibetan and Han Coincident Palm Balls", was unearthed by Gu Le Maocai, a member of the Dangxiang people. It was compiled in Chinese and Western Xia, and included many Dangxiang words,Therefore, it became the key for later generations to unlock the language and characters of Xixia.Over the past hundred years, Chinese and foreign experts and scholars have basically mastered the structure and part of the pronunciation of Xixia characters through painstaking and unremitting efforts and combined with these precious literature materials, making a significant breakthrough in the study of Xixia.[2]
The experts found a number of important materials about the Western Xia society in sorting out the documents of the Western Xia in Russia, such as《Shengliyihai》The natural conditions, social systems and ethics of the Western Xia Dynasty were recorded systematically《Tiansheng changed from the old to the new》It is a dynastic code that comprehensively reflects the laws, politics, economy, culture and religion of the Western Xia society.In particular, a large number of rural household registration, military copying documents, loans, deeds of sale, various accounts, official certificates and private letters, as well as prefaces, postscripts and titles of many documents that reflect the bottom of the Western Xia society are all true records of the Western Xia society.These documents are mostly cursive.Many of these documents from the grass-roots level of the Western Xia Dynasty bear the year of the Western Xia Dynasty.These documents are comparable to the social documents of Dunhuang in terms of quantity, content and value, which adds new materials to the study of Xixia society.[4]
research meaning
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The characters of the Western Xia Kingdom were once submerged in the fog of history, but from the 19th century to the 20th century, the Western Xia language and a large number of document relics were constantly discovered and interpreted, and the academic and cultural aspects of a large number of documents and ancient books recorded in the Western Xia language were reintroduced, showing a high cultural value.Researchers all over the world recognize that as a part of the historical and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation and even the historical and cultural heritage of mankind, Xixia culture has high research and inheritance value.
Tutorial publishing
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Tutorial of Xixia
The Xixia language course belongs to the series of "Research on Xixia Literature and Cultural Relics" specially commissioned by the National Social Science Fund. In addition to introducing the history of Xixia and Xixia literature, it mainly discusses the structure of Xixia characters, Xixia pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and interprets various types of Xixia literature.There are a large number of example words, example words, example sentences and a large number of literature plates.This book is the author's accumulation of achievements in learning and studying Xixia language in the past 50 years, and it is the first Xixia language course at home and abroad.By Shi Jinbo, published by Social Sciences Academic Press in September 2013
