Vanished Empire

Why China's Western Xia tombs were destroyed-and how historiansand archaeologists are bringing them back to life

西夏陵，失落王朝的無聲見證中國最新入選的世界遺產，仍藏有諸多未解之謎

nthe193Os，GermanpilotWulf-Diether Graf zu Castell-Ruidenhausen captured aremarkablephotographovertheHelan Mountains in Ningxia， China： clusters of white conical earthen moundsrising fromthe desolateplain.Initiallymistakingthem fortermite mounds，Castell-Rudenhausenpublished the image in hisbook Chinaflug，little expectingthat whathehadcasuallyrecordedwasactuallythe royalnecropolisofoneofthemostmysterious dynastiesinChinesehistory：theXixia，orWestern Xia.

Nearlyacenturylater，duringthe47thsession oftheUNESCOWorldHeritageCommittee in ParisonJuly11，2025，theXixiaImperialTombs became China's 6Oth property on the World Heritage List.The site comprises nine imperial mausoleums，271subordinatetombs，32floodcontrol structures，a 5O，OoO-square-meter ritual complexfoundation，andover7OoOculturalrelics

It's alleged that Genghis Khan was killed by a poisoned arrowe from a Western Xia soldier-and consequently made his successor vorw to take revenge.

housed in the onsite museum-and could serve as the missing key to unlocking a lost civilization.

Whatwedo knowisthatthemulti-ethnic WesternXia dynasty wasestablished in 1038by LiYuanhao（李元昊），leaderoftheTangutpeople who inhabited northwestern China.Li’s subjects encompassed anguts，Hanhinese，Uighurs， Tubo people，nd ore.Atits enith，Wr Xiaterritory spannedapproximately1million squarekilometers，covering much of present-day Ningxia，westernGansu，northeasternQinghai， and western Inner Mongolia. The dynasty coexisted for nearly 200 years with the Song， Liao，and Jindynastiesinwhatisnowmodern Chinese territory，before it was conquered by Mongol forcesin 1227.

Imperial Chinamaintainedatraditionof compiling official histories for preceding dynasties. Butwhile the imperial historians of theMongolled Yuan dynasty（1206-1368） dutifullycompiled theHistory ofSong（《宋史），HistoryofLiao（《遼史gt;》） andHistory ofJin（《金史》） aftertheserespective empires fell， they ignored the Western Xia， makingitabsentfromthe24historicchronicles laterhistoriansrecognizedascanonical to imperialChina.

Accordingto ChenXuefei，alecturerat theSchool ofEthnicand HistoricalStudies atNingxiaUniversity，the lackofhistorical material ontheWesternXiaislargely dueto their particularly brutalannihilationby Mongol forces. According to existingrecords，the WesternXia putupaparticularlyfierceresistancetoMongol conquest，and it'salleged thatGenghisKhanwas killedbya poisoned arrow froma Western Xia soldier-and consequently，made his successor vow to take revenge.

“As[WesternXia] cities fell，Mongol troops engaged with massacres and systematic looting， Chen tells TWOC.“Court records， genealogies， statearchives...allperishedintheflames.\"When Toghto，historian and chancellor of the Yuan dynasty， inherited the taskof compiling dynastic histories，heandhisteamfoundadearthof primarysourcesontheWesternXia.

Additionally， Western Xia pledgedallegiance to the Song，Liao，andJincourtsatvarious times asa diplomatic strategy for survival.This tributarystatuslikelyinfluenced laterhistorians to exclude it from orthodox dynastic recognition. That’s perhaps why Yuan historians granted the Song，Liao，and Jin parallel imperial status while relegatingWesternXiato annexesin theirofficial histories of all three dynasties.

Given the lack of written records， archaeological work has become vital for learning about the dynasty'shistory.Themausoleums， the largest， grandest，and best-preserved Western

Xiaarchaeological site surviving today， were first exploredinthe winterof1971bya teamledby Ningxia archaeologist Zhong Kan，before anyone guessed their connection to the Tangut empire. They discovered fragments of stone steles etched with mysterious script—square-shaped， like Chinese characters，yet distinctly alien-looking. Collecting these broken tablets，the archaeologists embarked ona needle-in-a-haystack investigation of their origins.

Inthe 2Ol8 documentaryUnveiling the Western XiaMausoleumsproducedby China Central Television， Zhong recalled having seen similar scripts onafragmentofBuddhist sutras unearthedadecadeearlier.Atthattime，someone suggested itmightbe Tangut script.A New GazetteerofNingxiafromtheJiajingEra（《嘉靖寧 夏新志》），ahistorical record dated to the1400s， also stated： “East of Helan stand several lofty mounds—the so-calledJia and YuMausoleums of the pseudo-Xia regime，modeled after the Song imperial tombsin Gongxian.”Both pointed tothemysteriousWesternXiadynastyasthe architects of thesemounds.

In1972， the Ningxia archaeological team

愛氟 花薦飛 聊雅龍茂 賈胤莊 孩囊皴驗 皴皴麻最液 猴嫚 Fragments of stone steles unearthed in the 197Os bear Tangut script-square-shaped like Chinese characters，yet distinctly alien in appearance（VCG]

launched formal fieldworkin thearea.Based on theirscaleanddistinctlyshaped outer enclosures， researchersidentified nine mausoleumsas belonging to nine emperors among the hundreds of tombs，which matched the records of the History of Song.Yetattributing each mausoleum to an emperor remained elusive.Extensive Chinese and Tangut inscriptions have been found around the tombs， but most of them were severely—and seemingly deliberately-damaged.

“Whenever we looked at the inscriptions， the keyinformationwasalwaysmissing，”researcher Ma Shenglin noted in the documentary.“Where itshould read‘So-and-so Emperor，'thecharacters identifyingwho were deliberatelychiseledaway.\"

Some scholars attribute the devastation to troops stationed near the Helan Mountains by the Ming dynasty（1368-1644）.Yet，ANewGazetteer ofNingxia fromtheJiajingEramentioned earlier excavation attemptsthathad found“notasingleartifact” within the tombs，indicating that systematic plundering must have occurred before the Ming.

Prominent archaeologistNiu Dasheng reached the following conclusion in a 1995 paper on the mausoleum：“Thesemausoleumswerereduced to ruins during the Mongol conquest of 1226 and1227，when Yuan Mongol nobles deployed troops for organized，large-scale excavationand destruction.\"

Historical records state that GenghisKhan launched six invasions against the Western Xia from1205 until its fall in1227.Mongol forces repeatedlyoccupied theHelanMountainsand besieged the capital， Zhongxing prefecture （today's Yinchuan，capital ofNingxia）.TheAnnals ofXixia （《西夏紀》），written in the early 2Oth centuryby renowned historian Dai Xizhang（戴錫章）， states thatMongol troopsdiverted rivers to flood the capital for six months during the 12O9 invasion， collapsingbuildingsand“drowning countless residents.”MingscholarHuRuli（胡汝礪）wrote on the final Mongol campaign in 1226 and 1227： “[Xia subjects] dug tunnels to escape Mongol arrows—scarcely one inahundred survived， their bones littering the wilderness.\"Other historical records，includingThe SecretHistoryoftheMongols （《蒙古秘史》），written13 years post-conquest，and the14th-centuryA Compendium ofChronicles （《史 集》）byRashid-DinHamadani of the Ilkhanate， both record the execution of thelast emperorLi Xian（李睨） and the massacre at Zhongxing.

Tomb raiders compounded thedamage.Chen Xuefei tells TWOC that archaeologists discovered three skeletons ina burialchamberinthe1970s. Based on forensic analysis and over evidence， they surmised that two looters likely entered the chamber，clashedoverdividingtheloot，andone murdered the other.While escaping with the

They are notoriously complex symbols， with most requiring over 10 strokes to write.But after the dynasty'sfall， this scriptfaded into oblivion.

plunderedartifacts，the survivorwas in turn murdered byhisaccomplices on the surface， who severed the rope and sent him crashing backtohisdeathinthetomb.

Modern construction then finished the job.“Since the 2Oth century， construction projectsaround Yinchuanhave salvaged bricks and tiles from surviving structures， and excavatedrammed-earthwallsandburial pagodas，\"says Chen.

Without primary records and intact steles from the Western Xia mausoleums， deciphering the enigmatic Tangut script posed another majol obstacle.According to theHistory ofSong，before founding his empire，Li Yuanhao commissioned hisministerYeliRenrong（野利仁榮）to create awriting systembased on Chinese character principles，creatingnearly6，OoO characters for the Tangut language.They are notoriously complex symbols，with most requiring over 10 strokesto write.Butafterthedynasty's fall， this script faded into oblivion.

In 1908 and 1909，Russian explorerPyotr

In the early 19th century， scholar Zhang Shu （張澍） discoveredalong-sealed stele in Wuwei，Gansu，nowknownas theStele of the Reconstructed Gantong Pagoda at Liangzhou's Huguo Temple. One side of the stelebore unrecognizable characters resembling Chinese. Onlyafter checking the dates from the Chinese inscription on the reverse did Zhang realize he had found surviving examples of Tangut script. Though thismarked the modernrediscovery of thescript，Zhang'sbreakthrough received scant attention at the time.

Kozlov'sexpeditionunearthed a trove of Western XiaartifactsatKhara-Khoto—anabandoned Xixia city，also knownasHeishuicity， in what is now western InnerMongolia—and brought them toRussia.Among thoseartifactswas thePearl in the Palm：ATangut-ChineseLexicon，which wascompiled by Tangut scholarGuleMaocai（骨勒茂才）， containing l，5O4 unique Tangut characters.In 1912， Chinese scholarLuo Zhenyu met Petersburg University professor Aleksei Ivanovich Ivanov inJapan and sawa single page of the lexicon. Recognizing its value，Luo borrowed nine pages to photograph—thus introducing the text to Chinese academia forthe first time.WhenIvanovvisited Tianjin in 1922，Luo borrowed photographs of the entirebook and commissionedhisson，Luo Fucheng，to transcribe and collate the manuscript. Publishedin 1924，this edition became the foundation for deciphering Tangut script.

Bythe197Os，whenarchaeological excavations beganattheWesternXiamausoleums，barely anyone in China could decipher the Tangut script other thanLuo Fuchengand hisbrotherLuo Fuyi It fell to Li Fanwen， thena logistical staffmember of theNingxiaarchaeological teamanda Tangut enthusiast， to travel to Beijing in 1973 carrying over 30，Ooo Tangut character cards transcribed from the site to seek help from Luo Fuyi.

Finally，in1974，Lireassembleda Tangut inscription from fragmented stele piecesat MausoleumNo.7and deciphered the 16 characters as“Epitaph for theMausoleum of the Emperor of Sacred Virtueand Ultimate Excellence，Protector of theGreatWhite and LoftyState.”ThisconfirmedMausoleumNo.7 asthe restingplace ofEmperorRenxiao，the fifth ruler of Western Xia—still the only positively identified imperial tomb in the necropolis. Licontinued his research and published the world's first fully-structured Tangut-Chinese Dictionary in1997.

In 2005，Li， together with overa dozen scholars. completedtheComprehensiveHistoryofWestern Xia， meticulously tracing the Tangut people's journey from the emergence of their tribe to their diasporic migrationsafter their empire'scollapse， filling the gap in the“Twenty-FourHistories”

whereaWesternXiahistoryshouldhavebeen. Archaeologistshave continued working on the site since the197Os，and thenumber ofidentified tombs has risen to 271 in 2015，though many identifications remain controversial.Popular interest in western China's lost empire also rose， withvariousbestselling booksand documentaries released over the last decade expounding on Western Xia'smysterious rise and fall，and archaeologists'search foranswers.

Many questions remain： The resting places of the last threeWestern Xia emperors are unknown—possibly never constructed or deliberately destroyed.The task of identifying each tomb occupant continues，and we still know littleaboutthelogicbehind thesite'slayoutand structure， the relationship between emperors andothersburied on the site，and countlessother detailsaboutdailylifeintheWesternXiaand the reason behind its total annihilation.Though the UNESCO site is now known to the whole world， it may not be ready to give up all its secrets yet.