Tangut script

The Xixia script ( older spelling: Hsi- hsia font) was the writing of the Tangut Western Xia Dynasty in northwest China. When Li Yuanhao, the leader of the Tangut, in 1038 declared the independence of Tangut from China, he had to mark the independence of his people to develop their own writing. The Xixia script lets the influence of Chinese writing from the outer shape of the character immediately recognizable, even if the 6,000 different characters of the Tangut scholars themselves were created.

Most of the Tangut characters are logograms. But there are also elements of a syllabary.

After Genghis Khan had conquered the kingdom of Tangut 1226 remained the literary tradition of the Xixia script there are still hundreds of years.