A Brief Introduction to The Index of Tangut Literature 西夏文獻目錄 Database

This is a guest post by Enfu Zhang. See author bio at the end of the page.

As the Tangut literature from all over the world continues to be assembled and published, it is especially important to create a platform where scholars and enthusiasts can search for basic information about Tangut literature. The idea of compiling an index of Tangut literature came to me in the spring of 2023 when I was studying Tangut, and then I gradually compiled The Index of Heishuicheng Literature Collected in Russia 俄藏黑水城文獻總目錄, The Index of Extant Tangut Literature 存世西夏文獻總目錄 (2023 edition), and The Index of Extant Tangut and Heishuicheng Literature 存世西夏及黑水城文獻總目錄 (2024 edition). The above three indexes are in pdf format, and although they are much more efficient for searching manuscripts than paper indexes, they are not convenient enough. Therefore, in August, I cooperated with Jerry You of the Complete Collection of the Ancient and Modern Characters 古今文字集成 to launch The Index of Tangut Literature database. On behalf of Jerry and myself, I will give a brief introduction to the database.

The Index of Tangut Literature database is modified from The Index of Extant Tangut and Heishuicheng Literature (2024 edition), containing mainly information on the following eight kinds of books, scattered Tangut texts from all over the world, and Tangut texts in auctions:

1. Shi, Jinbo 史金波, Wei, Tongxian 魏同賢, and Kychanov, E.I. E cang heishuicheng wenxian 俄藏黑水城文獻 [Heishuicheng Manuscripts Collected in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. 31 vols. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1996-2022.
2. Shi, Jinbo 史金波, and Chen, Yuning 陳育寧. Zhongguo cang xixia wenxian 中國藏西夏文獻 [Tangut Manuscripts Collected in China]. 20 vols. Lanzhou: Gansu renmin chubanshe, 2005.
3. Tala 塔拉, Du, jianlu 杜建錄, and Gao, Guoxiang高國祥. Zhongguo cang heishuicheng minzu wenzi wenxian 中國藏黑水城民族文字文獻 [Heishuicheng Texts in the Languages of Ethnic Minorities Collected in China]. Tianjin: Tianjin guji chubanshe, 2013.
4. Xie, yujie 謝玉傑, and Wood, Frances. Ying cang heishuicheng wenxian 英藏黑水城文獻 [Documents from Khara-Khoto in the British Library]. 5 vols. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2005-10.
5. Li, Wei 李偉, and Cohen, Monique. Fa cang dunhuang xixiawen wenxian 法藏敦煌西夏文文獻 [Xixia Documents from Dunhuang in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2007.
6. Shi, Jinbo 史金波, and Cramerotti, Cristina. Faguo jimei guoli yazhou yishu bowuguan cang xixia wenxian 法國吉美國立亞洲藝術博物館藏西夏文獻 [Tangut Manuscripts-Lotus Sutra Collected by the Cuimet National Museum of Asian Art in France]. Tianjin: Tianjin guji chubanshe, 2018. 
7. Wu, Yulin 武宇林, and Arakawa, Shintaro 荒川慎太郎. Riben cang xixiawen wenxian 日本藏西夏文文獻 [Xixia documents collected in Japan]. 2 vols. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2011.
8. Scattered Tangut texts and Tangut texts in auctions from all over the world

The Index of Tangut Literature database allows queries based on the “Title of Manuscripts” 標題, “Number and Category” 編號及類別, and “Bibliography and Page Number” 書目及頁碼 of the manuscripts – each of these is located in a separate tab. Users need to use the traditional Chinese title of the text, which is provided by the editors of the facsimiles. 

In the “Title of Manuscripts” tab, the “Bibliography or Category” 書目或類別 menu allows users to filter the database by bibliography (“Russian Collection” 俄藏, “Chinese Collection” 中國藏, “British Collection” 英藏, “French Collection” 法藏, “Japanese Collection” 日藏) or category (“Scattered” 散見, “Auction” 拍賣) they want to search in, and subsequently input the complete or partial title of the manuscripts in the “Title” 標題 search field to get the specific information of the manuscripts. This means there is no need to know all the information of the manuscripts before searching, all the users need to know is the complete or partial title.

For example, if users want to search for information on the Lotus Sutra 妙法蓮華經 in Heishuicheng Manuscripts Collected in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, they can select “Russian Collection” in the “Bibliography or Category” field, and then input the word ‘lotus’ 蓮華 in the “Title” search field to get the search result. 

In the “Number and Category” tab, after selecting the bibliography or category on the left side of the page, users can input the complete inventory number of the text on the right side of the page to get the specific information about the manuscripts.

For example, if users want to search ТК1 in Heishuicheng Manuscripts Collected in Russia, they can select “Bibliography or Category” as “Russian Collection” in the menu on the left, then select “ТК” in the “Prefix” 前綴 search field and input “1” in the “Number” 編號 search field on the right side of the page to get the search result. 

In the “Bibliography and Page Number” tab field, users can select the bibliography and the volume number of the bibliography and can input the starting page number of the manuscripts in the book to get the specific information.

For example, if users want to search the specific information in Volume 1, page 1 in Heishuicheng Manuscripts Collected in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, they can select the “bibliography” 書目 search field as “Russian collection”, “volume” 卷 search field as “Volume 1 Chinese part” 第1卷 漢文部分, “page number” 頁碼 search field as “1” to get the search results. 

It is worth noting that The Index of Tangut Literature database mainly focuses on Tangut literature, and if users wish to search for non-Tangut literature excavated in Heishuicheng, they still need to use The Index of Extant Tangut and Heishuicheng Literature. This index can be downloaded through my personal page on academia.edu.

To summarize, The Index of Tangut Literature database provides unprecedented convenience for users to search for specific information on Tangut manuscripts. We welcome suggestions from users after using the database and thank you for your support!

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Author information:

Enfu Zhang is a senior undergraduate student at the School of History, Beijing Normal University, with a strong interest in Tangut studies. He has been studying Tangut since 2023 and is currently collecting and organizing specific information on Tangut manuscripts.

Copyright information:

The feature image of this post, “Paper fragment Or.12380/226,” is sourced from the International Dunhuang Project (IDP) website and is licensed under CC. © British Library.