The historical background of horses

In the history of animal husbandry in China, the history of raising horses is the richest.

As early as the late primitive society, horses had been raised.

Horse has long been called the first of the "six animals" because of its great role in war, transportation, etiquette, ploughing and pulling.

Due to the need of war preparedness in past dynasties, a large number of horses were raised and managed by officials.

People also keep horses for farming and driving.

By the Han and Tang dynasties, the horse industry reached its peak.

Nomads in the north and northwest are especially famous for their developed horses, rich pastures and good riding skills.

After the middle Tang Dynasty, the land annexation was fierce, the population increased greatly, the grazing land decreased relatively, and the rulers banned the raising of horses, which led to the decline of raising horses by officials and people, especially after the Qing Dynasty.

Traditional pasture has also been greatly reduced due to overgrazing, overgrazing and desertification, and horse breeding in grassland has never been as prosperous as before.

The Origin and Evolution of China Horse Breeds

Puma was once thought to be the ancestor of the northern horse breeds in China.

After more than 30 years of archaeological excavations and investigations, it has been proved that the ancestor of China horse is wild horse E.caballus, and the previous generation is E.samenensis, both of whom were born in the vast area of northern China.

China Southern Horse originated from Yunnan Horse, and its fossils are distributed in a vast area centered on Sichuan and Yunnan.

Horse bones have been unearthed from Neolithic sites such as Ziya in Licheng, Shandong, Baiyin, Baiyin, Henan, and belong to Longshan culture.

Ma Xia molars unearthed from Qijia early cultural site in Dahezhuang, Yongjing, Gansu, have been dated about 2000 BC after carbon dating correction, which is no different from modern horses.

According to Zhouyi? Under the copula, Huangdi, Yao and Shun "lead the ox and ride a horse, indicating that the horse has been domesticated and used for service."

Ancient horses in China were generally taller than modern horses, and there were many so-called "swift horses" in the past dynasties.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, there were 3,000 mares (horses) over six weeks old (today's 138cm).

During the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, adult horses over five feet nine inches (now 135.7 cm) were forbidden to go out of the customs, which was exactly the same as the height of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses unearthed from the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.

The standard for buying horses in Song Dynasty was 130.2~ 145.7 cm.

Since the Ming Dynasty, due to the loss of war and the decline of horse industry, except for some excellent breeds in western minority areas, China horse breeds have shown a trend of degradation.

Distribution of ancient horse-raising areas

The main horse-raising areas in ancient China were basically the same as those in modern times. However, due to the changes in socio-economic conditions and ecological environment, the number of horses in traditional agricultural areas has decreased significantly in recent centuries.

Northwest horse-producing area

This area includes the ancient western regions, with rich grasslands, and people of all ethnic groups have always lived on animal husbandry and produced good horses.

For more than two thousand years, it has been the main resource of good horses in China.

Shaanxi and Gansu also have a long history of raising horses.

Around 900 BC, the concubine became the ancestor of Qin State, and was famous for raising horses for Zhou in Shu and Wei States.

After the Han and Tang Dynasties, large-scale national nutrition horse farms were mainly distributed in this area.

After the Anshi Rebellion in Tang Dynasty, Longyou was trapped in Tubo, and animal husbandry was still developed.

Song and Ming dynasties replaced the tea-horse system, importing tens of thousands of horses from northwest China to the mainland every year, including the Tang horse heritage.

In the Ming Dynasty, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces were reclaimed to breed military horses and build racecourses until the Hexi Corridor was far away.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, racecourses were set up outside Xining to Jiayuguan, especially in Yili and Barkun, and stallions were also raised from Inner Mongolia and Yumen.

Horse-producing area in Saibei

The vast grassland north of the Great Wall is the ancient origin of Mongolian horse breeds.

After the Warring States period, nomadic peoples such as Huns, Turks and Mongols rose here in succession, with huge horses.

Through the trade, war and migration between ethnic groups, horses in this area were introduced to the Central Plains in large numbers from the Zhou and Qin Dynasties.

For example, in the Tang Dynasty, a horse market was established in the north, and some horse workers even came from Lake Baikal.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, border towns such as Xuanhua and Datong allocated 34,000 horses to cities beyond the Great Wall every year, and allowed people to sell horses freely in the frontier fortress.

From Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties to Qing Dynasty, Chahar grassland was the main horse-raising place.

During the Yuan Dynasty, from southeastern Siberia to the lower reaches of the Yellow River via Chahar, the pastoral areas were divided into 12 large pastoral areas.

The Qing Dynasty organized Mongols to develop horses throughout Chahar, and most of the national military horses were taken from here.

Southwest horse-producing area

Horse breeding in southwest China, including * * *, can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Bashu merchants in Han Dynasty have been trading horses and other livestock products here.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Mayuan was established in Sichuan, Yunnan and other places.

In the Song Dynasty, horse resources in southwest China were paid more attention.

In the tea-horse trade from the Northern Song Dynasty to the late Ming Dynasty, Ma Shu and Yun Gui Ma, represented by Dali Horse, were the main targets.

Southwest horses are suitable for the ecological environment in mountainous areas, and there are many valuable horses, but they are not as good as northern horses in military use.

According to Guihai Zhi Heng? According to animal records, the height of the fruit in the south is no more than three feet, and it is best produced in Deqing, Guangdong.

Guandong horse producing area

Northeast China is also an important horse-producing area in the history of China.

Donghu in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, followed by Xianbei and Wuhuan, were riding and hunting tribes.

The Fuyu people in Nenjiang River and Songhua River basins in the east of Xianbei mainly farm and also produce famous horses.

After the establishment of Liao and Jin by Khitan and Nuzhen, a large-scale grazing organization appeared.

Liao raised more than1100,000 sets, while the seven livestock farms only raised 470,000 sets.

Ming Yongle set up a horse market in Liaodong and other places to buy horses from Songhua River to Heilongjiang, and set up a horse temple in Liaodong to manage horses.

In the early Qing Dynasty, racecourses were also established in Northeast China, but the horse industry declined obviously.

Later, due to a large number of immigrants and the urgent need for animal power, the horse industry developed again. The three northeastern provinces have become the regions with the largest number of horses in China in the past 100 years.

Zhongyuan horse area

Since ancient times, horses have been riding in the Central Plains.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, raising horses became a common practice, and then it once declined.

The migration of grassland nationalities to the south has revived the animal husbandry in the Central Plains.

However, due to the introduction of a large number of Mongolian horse breeds, the original horse breeds gradually disappeared.

Yanmenguan, Shanxi, is the entrance of Saibei horse breeds. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a shepherd in Hedong (now Shanxi), and horses were abundant.

The pastoral supervisors in the Northern Song Dynasty were mainly distributed in the Central Plains, with as many as 14 in its heyday.

However, some animal husbandry supervisors have contradictions with the planting industry and poor management, which leads to a downward trend; However, judging from the number of horses plundered by Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties after a long-term invasion of this area, folk horse raising is still considerable.

Wang Anshi's horse protection law in the Northern Song Dynasty and official herding in the Ming Dynasty were mainly implemented here.

It was not until the Qing Dynasty that folk horse raising was banned, the population was increasing and the grassland was insufficient that the horse raising industry in the Central Plains collapsed.

Southeast horse-producing area

China is known as "Southern Boat North Horse", and the horse industry in the southeast is underdeveloped, but it is not absolutely inappropriate to raise horses.

For example, at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the horses of Wu in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River developed rapidly because they needed chariots.

From Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty, racecourses were established in southern Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei and other places.

In the early Ming Dynasty, 14 animal husbandry supervisor was set up between Jianghuai and southern Jiangsu, which was unprecedented in the history of southern China.

Changes in the use of horses

Horses were originally raised to eat meat.

Horses were used as sacrifices in the Yin Dynasty.

Mu Biography records that when going to the Western Ocean, Qinghai tribes once offered "eating horses".

Later, due to the importance of horses in military affairs and post transportation, they were no longer used as sacrifices and funerals, and the slaughter of horses was also prohibited.

According to "Zhou Li? According to Xia Guan, the main uses of Ma Zhou can be divided into six categories: stallion for breeding, military horse for military use, Ma Qi for ritual sacrifice, knife horse for post station, Ma Tian for hunting, and Ma Xu can only be used as handyman.

According to the system of the Zhou Dynasty, only Zhou Wang could raise six kinds at the same time; The governor is not allowed to advance two categories, and the doctor is only allowed to mention the last two categories.

This constraint was broken in the Spring and Autumn Period.

About the origin and evolution of various uses of horses, according to Zhouyi? Under the copula and Tongdian in the Tang Dynasty? According to Li, the carriage was invented by Huangdi and Yaoshun.

The carriage structure unearthed in Yin Ruins is quite complete.

During the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, wagons were widely used for fighting, hunting and carrying.

The origin of Ma Geng can be traced back to the pre-Qin period.

Han's Theory of Salt and Iron? It is a fact that "agriculture plowed with horses" in the Han Dynasty. "The ancients" said that horses "pulled the yoke when they walked, and plowed when they stopped".

It is difficult to know when cycling started.

However, its wide application in production and war undoubtedly began with nomadic people in the north.

During the Warring States Period, countries in the Central Plains changed their chariots into cavalry in order to deal with northern riders. Wuling's "Hufu Riding and Shooting" is an obvious example.

Post horses have always been second only to army horses.

Because ancient land transportation mainly relied on post stations, no matter whether it was a post ride or a post car, it was inseparable from horses.

There were post stations in the Spring and Autumn Period, which were more developed in the Han and Tang Dynasties.

In the Tang dynasty, there were post stations every 30 miles, and each station was equipped with 8 ~ 75 horses.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the khanates were connected by post. The Travels of Marco Polo says that there are 20-400 horses in each post station, and there are 300,000 post horses in China.

In addition, horses are also used for sports.

Equestrian performances have appeared in rock paintings reflecting the life of nomadic people in the north in Langshan area of Inner Mongolia.

In the Central Plains, equestrian began to appear in court entertainment in the Han Dynasty, and it developed unprecedentedly in the Tang Dynasty, including horse riding and acting, horse riding and dancing, horse racing and so on.

Polo originated in * * *, prevailed in the court of Tang Dynasty, and developed into a military sport in Ming Dynasty.

As for drinking horse milk, it has been popular among grassland people since ancient times and was introduced to the Central Plains in Qin and Han Dynasties.

Special officials and craftsmen were set up in the Han Palace to make koumiss for the royal family to drink and then spread to the people.

Because of its sweet taste, it was highly praised by ancient doctors.

Development of horse breeding technology

China's traditional horse-raising technology is rich in content, and it has been applied to the people for a long time before it was introduced to western France, with outstanding results.

Except for many lost people, there are mainly: 1. Equestrian events.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, famous Xiangma artists such as Bole and Jiufanggao came forth in large numbers, and they wrote Xiangma Jing.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty stood in Chang 'an according to the "Golden Horse" cast by Dawanma.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ma Yuan wrote the Law of Copper Horse and cast a model of copper horse in front of Luoyang Palace.

Since then, works about Xiang Ma have been published for thousands of years, such as Xiang Bao Jin Qu written in the Tang Dynasty and adapted in the Ming Dynasty.

2.*** surgery.

3. Feeding, breeding and * * * methods.

Wu Qi, a strategist in the Warring States period, had a summary discussion on raising horses in the pre-Qin period.

The Book of Qi Yao Min in the Northern Wei Dynasty pointed out that raising horses requires "three foods and three drinks", which was also learned by later generations.

In raising horses, the method of rectal pregnancy examination was adopted in Tang and Song Dynasties, and there was a registration and declaration system. There was another development in the Ming Dynasty.

The methods of controlling fertilizer and improving horses of the northern and southwestern minorities are very distinctive.

The harness invented by Mongols and the rope-ring horse catching method in northwest China are still in use today.

4. Improvement of horse breeds.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Dawanma and Wusun horses were introduced from the western regions, which were mainly used as stallions in addition to imperial use, and can be regarded as arrows for the improvement of horse breeds in China.

From the end of the Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there were good horses introduced from the western regions, including Dawan horse, Persian horse and various tribute horses from Saibei grassland tribe. After crossing, Tang Ma became strong.

Today, the local varieties of Hequma and the north and south of Qilian Mountain are the legacy of Tangma.

Evolution of horse management

Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty recorded Ma Xiaochen who was in charge of horses in Shang Dynasty.

In history, the establishment of * * * to manage the national officials and horses was first brewed in the Zhou Dynasty.

The school administrator, priest, teacher, rider, fun horse and witch horse in Zhou Li are responsible for horse grazing, feeding, * * *, riding and health care respectively.

In addition to raising horses by the Zhou royal family and princes, they also levied horses from the lower classes to pay for the army.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were words like "home of a thousand riders" and "country of a thousand riders", in which horses and chariots represented wealth.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, the border counties opened gardens to raise horses and established Taibu Temple, which led to the formation of horse administration organs. The position of servant has also changed from the royal servant of the king of Zhou to the chief officer, with the rank of Jiuqing.

Since the Northern Dynasties, Taibu Temple has been in charge of animal husbandry such as camels, cattle and sheep.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there was a pastoral supervisor in Longyou. In addition to the Taibu Temple, which is in charge of the national animal husbandry, a post-horse driver's department was set up to collect books of officials, private horses, cattle and miscellaneous animals for the examination.

In the Song Dynasty, besides Taibu Temple and Driving Division, there were herding animals.

* * * There is also Chama Temple to exchange tea for horses of ethnic minorities in the west.

Wang Anshi initiated the law of protecting horses by officials and people, but it was soon abolished, and later he turned to the system of people's herding.

The horse administration institutions in Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties basically followed the system of Tang and Song Dynasties, mainly raising horses outside the Great Wall and plundering people's horses.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, horse administration was implemented all over the country, and horse farms were set up in Shaanxi, Gansu and Liaodong, and the government and the people jointly managed animal husbandry in agricultural areas. Taibu Temple, Ma Yuan Temple and Xingtaipu Temple perform their respective duties and are unified in the Ministry of War.

Later, due to the decrease of grassland, officials were out of order and no results were achieved.

During the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, the folk horse-raising in the mainland was suppressed and the horse-raising industry declined. Only in Chahar and other places, a number of horse farms have been set up, and Taibu Temple and Shangyuan are responsible for the horse farms outside the mouth.

The military reform in the late Qing Dynasty merged the horse administration institutions that lasted for more than 2,000 years into the Military Animal Husbandry Department, but the upper court remained until the demise of the Qing Dynasty.

After the Revolution of 1911, the Army Horse Division was established in the War Department.

1936 Nanjing * * * The Military and Animal Husbandry Department of the Military and Political Affairs Department was expanded into the Ma Zhengsi.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the horse industry was led by the agricultural department of the People's Republic of China, and the General Logistics Department of People's Republic of China (PRC) also set up a horse management bureau to be responsible for the breeding and improvement of military horses and civilian horses respectively.