Anecdotes of Horses and Their Masters

DURING the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods 2,000 years ago, Chinese distinguished the size and power of the numerous vassal states by the number of horse-drawn military chariots (each drawn by four horses) they owned. The “thousand-chariot” states were large ones, while the “hundred-chariots” states were medium-sized to small ones. This reflects the thinking in ancient China that “the affairs of a state are determined by its military, and the state of its military is determined by horses.” Indeed, as the main tools of agriculture, transport and the military, horses were of vital importance in the ancient states.

“The Horse That

Tramples the Hun”

In its early days, the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25) had a serious shortage of horses, and its ministers and marshals had to ride on ox-drawn chariots. When 100,000 Hun cavalrymen invaded Western Han territory, founding emperor Liu Bang had to fight them with 400,000 infantry troops. When he was defeated, he solicited peace by offering monetary terms and a Han princess to marry the Hun khan. In the following decades, the Western Han government was dedicated to economic development, and imported a large number of fine-breed horses from the Western Regions. By the time of Emperor Wudi’s reign (140-87 B.C.), the imperial government had a stock of 400,000 horses, not to mention a large number of privately raised ones, as described in historical records: “Horses owned by ordinary people were seen in streets and lanes, and large groups of them could also be found in farm fields.”

The development of a huge stock of horses enabled Emperor Wudi to establish a cavalry, and in 133 B.C., he declared war on the Hun. The Han cavalry matched the enemy in terms of speed, fighting ability and equitation, while surpassing the Hun forces in number. The Han cavalry launched several assaults across the hundreds of kilometers of arid areas outside the Great Wall. In 119 B.C., Emperor Wudi ordered his last, decisive attack, dispatching 140,000 cavalrymen, in addition to hundreds of thousands of infantry and logistical troops, as well as 100,000 pack horses. The Han crusade occupied the Hun political center and forced them to flee to Beihai (around present-day Baikal Lake). The Han imperial court completely eradicated the Hun threat to its frontier agricultural districts when the last Hun fortress town was sacked in 36 B.C.

Huo Qubing was a famous general in the Han-Hun war. He led several successful cavalry attacks against the enemy and opened a passage to the Western Regions. In 117 B.C. he died at the age of 24. Emperor Wudi buried him in an attendant tomb of the Maoling Mausoleum built for his own death, so he and the general could be together in the nether world. In front of the young military leader’s tomb were 16 large stone sculptures, the most famous being the “horse that tramples the Hun,” done in a realistic and romantic style. It is an extant masterpiece of Western Han monumental stone carving. A life-sized horse and a dwarfed Hun soldier reflect the uneven conflict between the overwhelming Han forces and the vanquished Hun army. The stout and robust horse is 1.68 meters tall and 1.9 meters long, while the horrified Hun soldier curls up beneath its belly.

Mounted Son of Heaven

In 618, Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, assisted by his son Li Shimin, who later succeeded him to become one of the greatest emperors in ancient China.

Li Shimin (598-649) was both a military and administrative talent. He started his military career at the age of 17 and lived the following decade on horseback, fighting heroically for the establishment and consolidation of the Tang Dynasty, thus winning himself the epithet “Mounted Son of Heaven.”

In 621, the Tang army fought a decisive battle with Wang Shichong’s rebel forces in Luoyang. Li Shimin mounted his battle charger Saluzi (literally Wind-speed Purple) and led a few score of cavalrymen into the enemy ranks, creating chaos in the enemy line. In pushing his way forward, Li lost track of his followers, and when he reached the rear of the enemy ranks, found only general Qiu Xinggong immediately behind him. Suddenly a dike blocked their way, and Saluzi was hit in the chest by an enemy arrow. Quickly turning his horse around, General Qiu Xinggong shot down several enemy troops, then jumped off his horse and gave it to Li Shimin. With one hand leading the wounded Saluzi, and the other wielding a broad sword, Qiu fought by Li Shimin’s side, and the two successfully breached the surrounding enemy ranks. All the while, the wounded battle steed stood tenaciously and made its way back to camp with its masters, where it fell dead after Qiu pulled out the arrow from its chest.

According to historical records, Shifachi, a red Persian horse, was Li’s battle charger in his campaign against Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande outside Luoyang and at the Wulao Pass. Shifachi continued fighting until he was hit by five arrows. Li Shimin lost three horses in the campaign.

Quanmaogua, a crossbreed with curled hair, was Li’s charger in 622 in his expedition in Hebei against a rebel force led by Liu Heita. The horse was hit by nine arrows, six in the chest and three in the back, and died on the battleground. The 622 expedition completed the crusade of the newly established Tang Dynasty against local rebel forces and completed unification of the country.

Six Steeds at the Zhaoling Mausoleum

In 626, at the age of 28, Li Shimin was enthroned as Emperor Taizong. To memorialize his six battle chargers that had died on the battlefield, he ordered the erection of stone carvings at his mausoleum. In 636, he asked famous artist Yan Liben to paint the six horses on paper. Stone artisans followed these paintings in carving the steles. The emperor wrote a short ode for each horse, and had his words carved on the respective steles.

Of the six monumental steles, only the one of Saluzi includes a human figure. It depicts Qiu Xinggong, still clad in his battle apparel, trying to pull an arrow from the horse’s chest. This was a special citation for the meritorious general in memory of his military exploits. The wounded steed is depicted as being totally exhausted, its eyes downcast and its thighs slanting backwards.

Each of the six white marble steles is 2.5 meters tall and three meters wide. Three of the steeds are depicted as standing while the rest are galloping. Li Shimin had the stone monuments placed in two temples flanking the memorial altar in the northern part of his mausoleum. He was the only emperor who memorialized his battle steeds in this way.

The “Horsebreaker”

Empress

Empress Wu Zetian was a skilled horse rider and breaker. As a low-ranking concubine of Emperor Taizong, she was often seen among the mounted entourage that accompanied the emperor on hunting tours. Once the emperor received a beautiful tribute horse from the Western Regions named “Piebald Lion,” but no one could break him. The young concubine Wu volunteered to try, saying she needed three things: an iron whip, an iron hammer, and a dagger.

Wu Zetian explained that she first let the horse know the rules regarding what should be done and what shouldn’t. When it failed to abide by those rules, she whipped it. When it failed again,she hammered it. Finally, if it still failed to obey, she killed it. The emperor was impressed with the beautiful woman’s resolution and courage, but was also startled by her unrelenting high hand.

After Taizong died, Wu Zetian married his son, Emperor Gaozong. Later, when Wu Zetian became the imperial ruler after the death of Emperor Gaozong, she applied the horse rule successfully to the administration of the country, bringing the Tang Dynasty to its zenith.

Wu Zetian also loved horses. The Qianling Mausoleum, where Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian are buried, has more stone horses than any other imperial mausoleum. Their stone entourage is led by a pair of winged steeds, named Celestial or Flying Horses, whose wings are carved in the pattern of swirling clouds. In addition, there are five pairs of saddled stone horses, each with a stone groom. Compared with those of the Zhaoling Mausoleum, the horse sculptures of the Qianling have stronger statures, thicker legs and a more imposing bearing, reflecting the great prosperity and power of the period they lived in.

The White Horse of

Sacred Burden

Twelve kilometers east of Luoyang City in Henan Province there is an ancient temple named the White Horse, distinguished by two stone horses that stand face to face in front of the entrance. Unlike the stone horses of imposing stature that guard ancient imperial mausoleums, the two sculptured animals look weary and peaceful.

The White Horse Temple has a history of 2,000 years. Historical records state that one night during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), Emperor Mingdi dreamed of a five-meter-tall man whose head radiated golden light, coming from the west and flying around his palace. The next day, he told his dream to his ministers at the morning court hearing. One minister then reported that there was a deity in the west called Buddha like the man the emperor had dreamed of. The emperor then dispatched envoys to the west in search of Buddhist scriptures.

In AD 65, a delegation set out on the journey to the west. In Darouzhi (part of present-day Afghanistan), they met two eminent Indian monks and saw Buddhist scriptures and statues of Sakyamuni for the first time. They invited the two monks to China. In 67, the two monks set out with the Chinese delegation on a journey to the Eastern Han capital Luoyang, bringing along Buddhist scriptures and statues carried by two white horses. Emperor Mingdi ordered construction of a temple for the two Indian monks, and named it the White Horse in acknowledgment of the horses that carried the Buddhist treasures all the way to China. After the white horses died, the emperor had them buried by the temple. He also had two stone horses carved and placed at the temple entrance.

The White Horse Temple is famed as the number one ancient temple. It was once a Buddhist structure of magnificent scale, but went through several ups and downs in the chaos of the following dynasties. The present architecture covers 40,000 square meters, and dates mostly from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The two stone horses at the entrance are duplicates made in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).