This book presents an analysis of a 12th century bilingual text written in both the little-known Hsi Hsia script and Chinese. The contents of this text essentially function as a Hsi Hsia to Chinese glossary of basic terms and phrases, which are divided into three chapters entitled Heaven, Earth, and Man. The Timely Pearl provides the reader with an introduction that describes the text, its discovery, and the historiography of the Hsi Hsia script. It then proceeds to present a linguistic analysis of the text, followed by a comprehensive catalogue of the Chinese glosses of the original text, and concluding with a facsimile of the text itself. The Timely Pearl gives incredible thought and attention to this incredibly important yet little-known text, and is a useful resource for anyone interested in the study of Chinese and Inner Asian historical languages.
