The Timely PearlThis 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