History, culture of Inner Mongolia’s past unearthed in ruins

Located in Ejine Banner, Alshaa League of Inner Mongolia, the Khara-Khoto Ruins (aka the city of black water) date back to the Tangut-led Western Xia Dynasty (1038-1227). It was a key post linking the Hexi Corridor to the vast area north of the Gobi desert along the ancient Silk Road.

Stunningly, more than 8,000 kinds of documents written in different languages have been unearthed from the ruins. They contain records of the history of the Western Xia and its contemporaneous dynasties.

In 1908, a Russian expedition team discovered the ruins and took with them back to their country Buddhist statues and manuscripts. Also among the icons taken was the double-headed Buddha that is now kept in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.