Shi Jinbo. Tangut Language and Manuscripts: An Introduction

Translator: Hansong Li. — Brill, 2020. — 562 p. — (Languages of Asia, Volume 20).This book is the first comprehensive introduction to the Tangut language and culture. Five of the fiſteen chapters survey the history of Western Xia and the evolution of Tangut Studies, including new advancements in the field, such as research on the recently decoded Tangut cursive writings found in Khara-Khoto documents. The other ten chapters provide an introduction to the Tangut language: its origins, script, characters, grammars, translations, textual and contextual readings. In this synthesis of historical narratives and linguistic analysis, the renowned Tangutologist Shi Jinbo offers a guided access to the mysterious civilisation of the ‘Great State White and High’ to both a specialized and a general audience.Jinbo Shi is a Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Shi has published widely on Tangutology, including Study of the Sea of Characters (1983), Western Xia Publishing (2004), and Economic Records of Western Xia (2017).Hansong Li, B.A. University of Chicago, M.Phil. University of Cambridge, is a scholar of intellectual and international history at Harvard University.