The Western Xia was a Tangut-led Chinese dynasty which ruled over what are now the northwestern Chinese subdivisions of Ningxia, Gansu, eastern Qinghai, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, southwest Inner Mongolia, and southernmost Outer Mongolia from 1032 until 1227 when they were destroyed by the Mongols. The country was established by the Tangut people; likewise its earliest coins were escribed with Tangut characters, while later they would be written in Chinese. Opposed to Song dynasty coins that often read top-bottom-right-left, Western Xia coins exclusively read clockwise. Despite the fact that coins had been cast for over a century and a half, very little were actually produced and coins from Western Xia are a rarity today. Although the Western Xia cast their own coins barter remained widely used.
A tshjwu ꞏwu ljɨ̣ dzjɨj (𘀗𘑨𘏨𘔭) or Qian You Bao Qian (Chinese: 乾佑寶錢) cash coin written in the Tangut script.
A Tian Sheng Yuan Bao (天盛元寶) coin issued under Emperor Renzong.
Image: Tangut Fusheng Baoqian coin
Image: Tangut Da'an Baoqian coin
The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (Chinese: 西夏; pinyin: Xī Xià; Wade–Giles: Hsi1 Hsia4), officially the Great Xia (大夏; Dà Xià; Ta4 Hsia4), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as Mi-nyak to the Tanguts and Tibetans, was a Tangut-led Buddhist imperial dynasty of China that existed from 1038 to 1227. At its peak, the dynasty ruled over modern-day northwestern China, including parts of Ningxia, Gansu, eastern Qinghai, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, and southwest Inner Mongolia, and southernmost Outer Mongolia, measuring about 800,000 square kilometres (310,000 square miles).
Xixia stone inscriptions
Western Xia painting on silk depicting the Daoist deity Emperor Xuanwu, discovered in the Hongfo Pagoda in 1990
Painting of a warrior from a late Western Xia tomb in Gansu
Western Xia explosive caltrop