The Hsi-Hsia king receives a messenger, 1038

The series consists of six special figures (The Hsi-Hsia King with two servants and three palace guards, as well as the messenger (profile).
Image: Map
In the 10th century, the Tanguts, a northern Tibetan people, gradually conquered the entire area between the Yellow River and Turfan and created a largely independent Chinese Song Empire. In the second half of the 10th century, the Tanguts, a northern Tibetan people, gradually conquered the entire area between the Yellow River and Turfan, creating an empire largely independent of the Chinese Song Empire, but still formally remaining vassals of the Song. Due to the location of their domain, they gained control over the Silk Road and trade between China, Central Asia and Europe. Around 1038, the equestrian nomads, who soon became rich and powerful as a result, elevated their domain to the status of an empire, to which they gave the historical Chinese name Xia (usually called Xixia, "Western Xia", in Chinese sources) and thus completely detached themselves from dependence on China. The Tanguts constituted only the upper class of this empire; peasants, craftsmen and a large part of the officials were Chinese. The culture and society of the empire were only partially Sinicised; the Tangut upper class used their own script and professed Lamaist Buddhism. After a prolonged war, the Xixia concluded a border treaty with the Chinese Song emperors in 1044. After that, political conditions in northwest China remained relatively stable until the final destruction of the Xixia Empire by the Mongols in 1227.