Tangut people

The Tangut (Chinese党 项, Pinyin Dǎngxiàng ) were a people in the field of Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Gansu, and Ningxia Autonomous Region of. In 1038 they established the Western Xia Dynasty ( Xi Xia or Xixia ).

History

For the first time Tanguts be mentioned at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. They lived as farmers on a spur of the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau in the area of Sungqu. The mid- Tang period was resettled in the area of Qingyang ( Gansu Province ), much of the Tangut. The remaining Tangut were called by the Tibetans, which they henceforth were under " Miyao " (Chinese弭 药, Pinyin Mǐyào ). The eight migrated northward Tangut tribes were resettled under Tang Daizong again, this time in the area north of Mizhi and east of Hengshan, Shaanxi Province. Many moved into the areas of Suide and Yan'an on. The descendant of the Tabgatsch Tuoba Sigong who had been awarded the basis of merit of the Tang dynasty nor the surname " Li " (李), finally grounded in Jingbian the dynasty of the Tangut and thus created the conditions for their further development of power and subsequent establishment the Western Xia Dynasty. After its destruction by the expanding Mongols in 1227 a part of the surviving Tangut moved south again and united with the remaining in Sichuan Miyao. Nevertheless, the Tangut disappeared as ethnicity. Their descendants are found mainly among Tibetans, Han Chinese and Qiang.

Language and writing

The extinct Tangut language belonged to the group of Xixia Qiang languages, a small subunit of the Sino Tibetan. The Qiang, whose language is still spoken, are an ethnic minority living in Sichuan, especially. The Tangut developed their own script language, the Xixia script.

• Historical ethnic group in China