Barbara Hoster
On 17 February 2026, the horse replaced the snake in the Chinese lunar calendar. This year, it stands in the element of fire. It symbolises strength, vitality and a heroic spirit. No other zodiac animal is as omnipresent in Chinese culture as the horse – in mythology, history, art or literature.
Archaeological findings attest that the horse has been known in China since prehistoric times. The old character for ma 馬 in seal script reveals the stylised image of a horse with a mane, a tail and four legs. The horse’s connection to the supernatural sphere was established early on. The Zhou 周-period oracle classic Yijing 易經 (Book of Changes, also known as Zhou yi 周易, ca. 9th century BC) classifies the horse as being of the heavens. The legendary “heavenly horse” (tianma 天馬) supposedly came from the “Far West.” It was linked to the myth of the water-born “dragon horse” (longma 龍馬), widespread in Turkestan but presumably of Persian origin. Since the Han period (206 BC to 220 AD), the heavenly horse – winged and powerful, usually depicted galloping wildly – has been connected with a horse breed from Fergana, in central Asia (today’s Uzbekistan). Since these noble, long-legged animals supposedly exuded bloody droplets of sweat when under heavy strain, they were also called “blood-sweating horses” (hanxuema 汗血馬). Han Emperor Wudi 武帝 (2nd c. BC), who was on a quest for immortality, sent envoys out West to search for these miraculous horses, as he believed they could carry him into the heavens.
Evidence of horse breeding with local wild horses in China stretches back to the Neolithic period. The tamed wild horse’s progenitor is said to be the Przewalski horse (equus przewalskii), a smaller, pony-like horse that was later interbred with horse breeds from Central Asia and from the various horse-riding peoples – the Mongols, the Tungus and the Manchurian Xi and Khitan. Chinese classics name either a figure called Chengya 乘雅 (“he who is used to driving”) or a certain Chengdu 乘杜 as a cultural hero and the inventor of both horse breeding and the horse-drawn wagon. This wagon, which superseded the cattle-drawn variant, was probably introduced to the Chinese cultural sphere in the second millennium BC by nomadic peoples from the Central Asian steppe. It played a vital role in the military, serving as a vehicle for commanding officers in battle. At the same time, it was a symbol of prestige – the more important the military leader, the more chariots of war he owned. The close connection between horses and the military is also expressed in the term for the minister of war – sima 司馬 (“he who is responsible for horses”).
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