Tangut Winter School 2026
Photos from the Tangut Winter School
Join the Tangut Winter School 2026 for five days of lectures and guided readings on Buddhist texts, history, law codes, and more.
The Tangut Great State of White and High (1038-1227) is one of the most enigmatic regimes that existed in eastern Central Asia. Due to the scarcity of historical sources and the difficulty of the script, Tangut studies have been a challenging field to research. The Tangut Winter School 2026 aims to improve this situation and offers a rare opportunity for graduate students and early career scholars, who are interested in this period, to master the basics of the Tangut language and get acquainted with Tangut history, art, and religion. The participants will have a chance to work under the supervision of leading experts in the field.
Praying Tangut Man, 10th/11th Century
Fragment of a wall painting. Musée national des arts asiatiques – Guimet, Paris
The public may visit the Elling Eide Preserve by invitation only, either by volunteering or by participating in scheduled programs.
Conference Details
January 5-9, 2026
Location: Elling Eide Center (Sarasota, FL)
Co-Organizers
Yulia Mylnikova, PhD
Director of the Eide Library
Elling Eide Center
ymylnikova@ellingoeide.org
Nikita Kuzmin, PhD
Elling Eide Center Visiting Scholar, 2025-2026
nkuzmin@ellingoeide.org
About the School
This five-day workshop is a blend of lectures on various aspects of Tangut studies with the sessions including guided reading of Tangut materials of various genres: Buddhist texts, historical anecdotes, law codes, and others. The Tangut Winter School 2026 will be especially helpful to students of history and linguistics. Prior knowledge of Mandarin, Classical Chinese, and Tibetan would be helpful, but not required.
Call for Participants
We invite graduate students and early career scholars from North American universities to submit their applications. The application should include a cover letter and CV. In the cover letter, please explain your interest in the Tangut Winter School and illustrate how your research and career will benefit from it.
We invite graduate students and early career scholars from North American universities to submit their applications. The application should include a cover letter and CV. In the cover letter, please explain your interest in the Tangut Winter School and illustrate how your research and career will benefit from it.
Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Elling Eide Center, we will cover the costs of the selected participants to include their tuition fees, accommodation, and two meals per day. Please apply for the reimbursement of transportation costs to Sarasota, FL from you home institution. If the cost of transportation will provide undue hardship, please indicate that in your application.
Tangut donors
Page from a 11th-13th century chrysographic manuscript edition of the “Golden Light Sutra” (Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra) written in Tangut
Tangut female donors
