Tangut character for fire

The Xixia (Tangut) script was commissioned around 1036 CE to write Tangut and mark Western Xia’s distinct culture. Its square characters drew on Chinese writing, but belong to a separate script for a different language. Tangut appears in official, private, and religious texts, including Buddhist works translated from Chinese and Tibetan. It remained in use after Western Xia fell, under the Yuan and Ming dynasties, then became obsolete by the end of the Ming. The script was rediscovered in the late 19th century and largely deciphered in the early 20th.