Feature: With every stroke, a lost script finds its way back to life

YINCHUAN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The characters flowing from Yang Yuehong's brush looked familiar -- but few visitors around him could read them.

Standing behind a desk at the Xixia Imperial Tombs Museum in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the man in his 50s dipped his brush into ink and slowly traced a series of intricate symbols onto a sheet of traditional Chinese Xuan paper.

They were Tangut characters, the writing system created by the Tangut, an ethnic group that thrived in northwest China and founded the Xixia Dynasty (1038-1227).

Drawing on the character-formation methods of Chinese writing while developing into a distinct system with about 6,000 characters, the script disappeared from daily use centuries ago following the fall of Xixia and the integration of the Tangut people with other ethnic groups in China.

The Xixia Imperial Tombs, a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in July 2025, preserve the remains of a once-flourishing multicultural civilization shaped by agro-pastoral traditions and trade, offering a glimpse into the diversity and continuity of Chinese civilization.

Here, at the foot of the Helan Mountains, the long-lost script has found its way back to paper. Visitors from across China and overseas gathered around Yang's desk, watching each stroke take shape, curious about the mysterious characters and the civilization that created them.

For Yang, this is more than calligraphy. "It is a way of bringing a long-gone civilization back into the present, allowing a lost chapter of Chinese history to be seen again," he said.

Before his current role presenting Tangut script calligraphy to museum visitors, Yang had spent nearly two decades working behind the scenes as a cultural relic conservator.

Yang graduated in arts and crafts in 1995 and joined the cultural relic conservation team at the Xixia Imperial Tombs around 2000. Over the years, he sorted countless fragments and helped restore more than 200 artifacts, working among broken stelae, pottery shards and the remains of ancient structures.

What began as part of his job gradually became a personal passion. After work, Yang would copy Tangut inscriptions from rubbings, captivated by the script's intricate forms. Since 2011, he has devoted himself to the systematic study of Tangut script and calligraphy.

Years spent handling excavated relics also gave him an intimate understanding of the civilization behind the characters.

"Sorting, cleaning and restoring -- I did all of them with my own hands," Yang said. "It's like raising a child. You know every twist and turn."

The UNESCO recognition of Xixia Imperial Tombs has drawn growing attention from visitors. The site welcomed about 1 million visitors in 2025, up 70 percent from a year earlier. During this year's five-day May Day holiday, the number of visitors surged 83.28 percent compared with the same period last year. It also ranked among the top tourist destinations in Ningxia in terms of inbound visitors.

As more visitors arrive, the site has explored new ways to help people experience the ancient civilization. Digital technologies have been introduced, alongside traditional methods of preservation and storytelling.

Inside the museum, precious artifacts are displayed in rotatable smart display cases, allowing visitors to examine intricate details with their fingertips. Through Virtual Reality and Extended Reality-powered projects, visitors can explore underground chambers virtually, follow archaeologists in interactive excavation experiences, and view cultural relics from new perspectives.

While technology opens new ways to rediscover Xixia civilization, Yang believes the human connection behind handwriting remains irreplaceable.

To Yang's delight, many visitors linger at his desk to ask questions about the script before picking up a brush and trying their hand at writing Tangut characters themselves.

"Handwriting carries emotion," he said. "People should immerse themselves in the ancient script, connect with the civilization behind it, and then express it in their own way. A robot can never do that." Enditem