Powerful totem

Excavations in Anyang, northern Henan province, reveal sophisticated wooden chariots buried with kings and nobles, underscoring their dual role in battle and ritual.

In the following centuries, horse-drawn chariots functioned not only as swift, mobile platforms for archers and spearmen, but also as unmistakable markers of aristocratic rank. Their very existence demanded a vast system of support — horse breeding, bronze casting, the training of drivers and warriors — thus tightening the administrative and logistical sinews of the early Chinese state.

"The size of an elite chariot corps — each unit built around its horses — was a direct measure of a state's strength," Tan says.

The idea is powerfully reflected in one of the most striking discoveries made near the mound of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum in Lintong, Xi'an city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province. The bronze chariots and their four finely modeled horses, half the size of the real thing, yet still commanding in presence, stand as eternal companions to the man who first unified China, a reminder of the role of equine power in shaping the nation.

Yet, chariots soon yielded to mounted cavalry, a shift that transformed warfare in ancient China and elevated the warhorse even further. The demand for strong horses became insatiable, and a deep reverence for them took root during the Han Dynasty.

"Heavenly steeds" — that was the name given to horses of exceptional strength and stamina. Legend held that they were born of a union between earthly horses and dragons, the most potent totem in Chinese myth and ancestral belief.