北京
一匹奔馬，定格在騰空而起的一瞬。四蹄離地，疾馳如飛，頭顱微側，像把某種不可遏止的歡欣與力量一并甩向周遭。翕張的鼻翼，凸出的雙眼——每一處細節都在訴說：這不是靜物，是沖破束縛的意志，是時間被壓縮到一個閃電般的剎那。
雷臺漢墓出土的銅奔馬 甘肅省博物館 陳坤/for China Daily
它出土于1969年，甘肅武威雷臺漢墓。在墓室封閉近一千九百年后，它穿越漫長的黑暗與沉寂，回到我們面前，成為一種象征：堅韌與速度，生命力與昂揚氣息。它像從歷史深處伸出的一條線索，牽引我們去看中國漫長歲月里，“馬”如何被理解、被需要、被想象。
A galloping horse, caught mid-gallop in a moment of unrestrained exhilaration — all four hooves lifted from the earth, its head tipped to one side in joyous abandon. From its flared nostrils to its gaping mouth and wild, bulging eyes, every detail testifies to the boundless force surging through its veins in that single, blazing instant.
Excavated in 1969 from a Han-dynasty tomb in Wuwei city in northwestern China — its chambers sealed nearly nineteen centuries ago — the bronze horse has since become an emblem of strength. It stands as a testament to fortitude, a token of unbridled vigor and verve, capturing not only the spirit of its own age but a vital strand of China's long historical arc.
fortitude /?f??r.t??.tu?d/ 勇氣，堅韌，剛毅
verve /v??v/ 精力，活力，熱情
《易經》六十四卦中的第一卦為“乾卦”，象征不息的創造之力?！兑捉洝分袑懙溃?strong>“乾為天、為圜、為君、為父、為玉、為金......為良馬、為瘠馬、為駁馬......”馬與君父、天地、金玉并列，被置于生成萬物的根源性力量之中。它所代表的不是一種工具，而是一種生命的勢，一種向前的動能。
The celebration and divination of the horse can be traced to the
Yi Jing
Book of Changes), one of the oldest and most influential classics in Chinese thought, with origins more than three millennia old. At its core are 64 hexagrams mapping the universe ' s transformations. The first,
qian gua, embodies unbroken creative force: "
qianis heaven… jade, gold… fire, the horse — whether robust, lean, or mottled." In this paradigm, the horse stands alongside heaven, metal, and fire — generative forces that govern the world.
這種想象很快與現實的隆隆聲結合——馬拉戰車。到商代晚期，戰車已成為改變戰爭形態的重要力量。殷墟車馬坑的考古發現表明，商代晚期木質馬車工藝精湛，作為王侯貴族的專屬重要資源，兼具軍事實戰、禮儀象征、田獵出行等多重功能。其陪葬制度集中體現了當時的社會等級、軍事權力與祭祀文化。
河南省安陽市殷墟博物館車馬坑遺跡
此后數百年，馬拉戰車既是弓手與戈兵的機動平臺，也是貴族身份的標志。圍繞戰車建立的體系——養馬、鑄銅、訓練御者與武士——一點點收緊了早期國家的行政與后勤的肌理。精英戰車部隊的規模成為國家實力的衡量標準。這一觀念在秦始皇陵附近出土的銅車馬中得到震撼的呈現。
陜西西安秦始皇帝陵博物院展出的秦銅車馬 蘇衛忠/for China Daily
This imagery deepened as horse-drawn chariots thundered through early Chinese history, their presence recorded in texts and tombs alike. By the late Shang dynasty, around 1200 BC, chariots drawn by powerful horses had become a transformative force. Excavations at Anyang in northern Henan reveal sophisticated chariots buried with kings and nobles, attesting to their dual roles in warfare and ritual. In the centuries that followed, chariots served both as mobile platforms for archers and spearmen and as clear markers of aristocratic rank. Sustaining them required an extensive system — horse breeding, bronze casting, and the training of drivers and warriors — binding military power to state administration.
chariot /?t?er.i.?t/ （古時用于比賽或戰爭的）雙輪馬車
sophisticated /s??f?s.t?.ke?.t??d/ 精密的，高級的
然而戰車終究讓位于騎兵——“白登之圍”將匈奴輕騎兵的戰斗力顯示無疑。對強健良馬的渴求在漢代發展為深植人心的對“天馬”的崇尚。傳說“天馬”由凡馬與龍所生，于是得到天馬意味著被賦予神性以及擁有統治的正當性。
公元前2世紀，漢武帝派張騫出使西域，既為結盟，也為求馬。武威出土的青銅奔馬，正凝固了那個“中國”作為統一集權的國家形態逐漸成形的時代所擁有的昂揚氣象。
雷臺漢墓出土的執戟銅騎士
Chariots soon gave way to mounted cavalry, transforming warfare and elevating the warhorse to new importance. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), demand for powerful steeds became intense, giving rise to the legend of the "Heavenly Horses", believed to have been born of a union between earthly horses and dragons.
In reality, these prized horses came from the Western Regions, where the envoy Zhang Qian journeyed in the 2nd century BC. His return in 126 BC with news of the Ferghana horses spurred the Han court to open diplomatic routes across Central Asia, arteries of cultural and commercial exchanges later known as the Silk Road. The galloping bronze horse unearthed in Wuwei distills the spirit of this age — speed, expansion, and the confidence of a frontier dynasty taking shape.
distill /d??st?l/ 提煉，濃縮
漢代投下的回響，被唐代接住并放大。唐朝在軍事力量和社會繁榮方面與漢比肩，甚至超越漢代。正如漢代皇帝需要應對匈奴的威脅，唐代統治者也必須面對突厥這一草原強敵，由此衍生出的，是兩者對馬的共同禮贊。
If the Han dynasty sent a powerful echo down the corridor of history, the Tang caught it — and returned it with even greater force. Both dynasties confronted formidable nomadic powers on the Eurasian steppe and understood that true security lay not in isolation, but in engagement.
唐代絲綢之路達到鼎盛，粟特商人往來其間，他們的身影出現在唐三彩里：商人、駱駝與馬并置，展現一個自信外溢的中國。
唐代唐三彩粟特人騎馬像
與漢馬相比，唐馬更修長、更從容，那種松弛而莊重的氣度，是盛唐自信的寫照?！峨絿蛉擞未簣D》中貴族女性安然騎行，在深受外來文化影響的世界里，騎術成為休閑方式與社交禮儀。
唐代畫家張萱所作的《虢國夫人游春圖》宋代摹本 遼寧省博物館
陜西咸陽唐太子李賢墓中的壁畫亦然：奔馬飛馳，擊球者揮槌，外國使節與主人們熱烈地交談——馬球場不僅是娛樂之所，也是僅次于宮廷的重要外交舞臺。
章懷太子李賢墓壁畫中的“馬球圖”
Under the Tang, the Silk Road reached its zenith. Sogdian merchants moved freely between Chang'an and the far western lands, their presence vividly captured in Tang sancai (tri-color) figurines, where traders appear alongside camels and horses. In the Tang-dynasty painting Lady Guo's Spring Outing, aristocratic women ride with effortless poise, reflecting a society in which equestrian pursuits — shaped by cosmopolitan influences — had become integral to ceremony, leisure, and display.
zenith /?zi?.n?θ/ 頂峰，鼎盛時期
The same spirit animates the murals in the tomb of Tang prince Li Xian in present-day Xianyang, where galloping horses and polo players on one wall directly face another that features foreign envoys in distinctive dress, engaged in conversation with their Tang hosts. The polo ground emerges as a diplomatic stage, second only to the palace.
與此同時，馬蹄的印痕深深踏入了中國詩歌史中。“衰翁送客水邊行，沙襯馬蹄烏帽點?！?/strong>（蘇軾）——老友送別、久別歸鄉，或是踏上遠赴邊塞之路，這些深刻塑造人生的瞬間，都有馬的見證。
杜甫寫駿馬“竹批雙耳峻，風入四蹄輕。”若要給這幾句詩找一個視覺對應，那就是武威銅奔馬。更耐人尋味的是，追逐“天馬”的故事始于張騫，可他歸來時并未帶回一匹馬，同行者幾乎盡死或離散：偉大的奔跑背后，往往是孤絕的跋涉。
漢代墨繪木馬 中新社記者 九美旦增 攝
As a road companion, horses bore silent witness to shifting moods and decisive passages — returning home after a long sojourn, bidding farewell to an old friend, or setting off for a distant frontier. Such moments, profoundly formative, were carefully recorded in verse, especially during China's Tang and Song dynasties between the 7th and 14th centuries.
"Bamboo-hewn ears thrust high and taut; the wind beneath its hooves — light, fleet, unwrought."
If those lines, from Tang-dynasty poet Du Fu (712-770), had a visual counterpart, it would be the bronze horse unearthed from the Wuwei Han tomb. The quest for these "nomad steeds" — or "heavenly horses" — began with Zhang Qian's extraordinary mission. Yet few remember that Zhang Qian—who departed dreaming of such steeds — returned thirteen years later with neither horse nor retinue. All but one companion had deserted him or died along the way, leaving only the envoy himself to carry home the knowledge that would reshape China's horizons.
古老的提問也隨之浮現：“寧昂昂若千里之駒乎？將氾氾若水中之鳧乎？”（“是昂首如駿馬，還是隨波若浮鴨？”）它出自《楚辭》，熾烈而充滿自省。數百年后，曹操給出了回答：“老驥伏櫪，志在千里；烈士暮年，壯心不已?！?/strong>
唐代唐三彩馬 羅鴻賢/for China Daily
魏晉之交，馬與英雄的意象合二為一。“人中呂布，馬中赤兔”，曹操的絕影馱他在箭雨中突圍，劉備的的盧一躍過檀溪，它們是忠誠與犧牲的象征，完美詮釋杜甫詩中的“所向無空闊，真堪托死生?！?/strong>
"Should one lift his head like a powerful steed, or drift with the current like a duck upon the water?" The question comes from the
Chuci
Songs of Chu), a foundational poetic anthology of the Warring States period (475–221 BC). Centuries later, the warlord-poet Cao Cao offered his answer: "The old steed, tethered in the stable, still yearns to gallop a thousand miles; the hero, though in his twilight years, holds fast to a heart that never ages." Written around 213, at a moment when age pressed upon him even as ambition still burned, the verse captures both the fatigue of a lifetime and the undimmed desire for one more triumph.
On one side stands the image of the mighty horse; on the other, the figure of the unyielding hero. Over time, the two fuse.
若論與名馬最難分離的帝王，非唐太宗李世民莫屬。他稱帝后命石刻《昭陵六駿》，描繪伴他征戰的六匹戰馬，其中一塊刻畫的是名為“颯露紫”的戰馬。畫面中，一名男子正從重傷的颯露紫身上拔出箭矢，這也使這塊浮雕石刻成為六駿圖中唯一出現人物形象的作品，格外動人。此后千余年間，這組石刻幾經流散，如今四件仍存中國，另兩件于20世紀初流失海外，現藏于美國費城賓夕法尼亞大學考古與人類學博物館。
《昭陵六駿》“颯露紫”石刻 賓夕法尼亞大學考古與人類學博物館藏
If any figure in Chinese history is inseparable from great warhorses, it is Li Shimin — Emperor Taizong (598–649), the second ruler of the Tang dynasty (618–907). Before his death, the architect of Tang's rise commissioned stone reliefs depicting the six horses that carried him through the campaigns that founded the dynasty. Installed at Zhaoling (the Zhao Mausoleum), the emperor's final resting place, near present-day Xi'an, these carvings later became known as the Zhaoling Six Horses. Over time, they were dispersed: four remain in China, while two were taken abroad in the early 20th century and are now held by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
One of the two depicts the horse Saluzi ("Autumn Dew") at the moment an arrow is withdrawn from its body, the only relief in the group to include a human figure.
近百年后，李世民的曾孫唐玄宗李隆基，命宮廷畫師韓干于約750年為愛駒“照夜白”作畫。這幅畫現藏于紐約大都會藝術博物館，被公認為中國繪畫史上最偉大的馬畫之一。畫中馬目炯炯，鼻翼張揚，四蹄躁動，積蓄的力量幾乎無法抑制，仿佛下一刻便要掙脫韁繩。（也有學者認為大都會所藏為宋代摹品。）
唐玄宗命韓干所畫其愛馬“照夜白” 美國紐約大都會藝術博物館藏
畫卷上千余年的印章題跋記錄著一段藝術史的傳奇：乾隆贊其毛發英姿“卻似梨花開月殿”，又嘆其張揚態度“試看受勒不受鞍”。
Nearly a century later, Li Longji — Emperor Taizong's grandson and the seventh ruler of the Tang — commissioned a portrait of his favored charger, Zhaoyebai (Night-Shining White), painted around 750 by the court artist Han Gan. Now in the collection of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the work is widely regarded as the greatest equine portrait in Chinese painting. With blazing eyes, flared nostrils, and restless hooves, the horse appears on the verge of breaking free from its tether, its coiled energy barely contained.
on the verge of 接近于……，瀕于……
Equally striking are the seals and inscriptions added over more than a millennium by later owners and admirers, a hallmark of Chinese connoisseurship that traces the painting's transmission and enduring influence. Among them are several poems and seals by the Qing emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), who once held the scroll himself and wrote of the white horse as "resembling pear blossoms in a moon-lit courtyard."
"Though muzzled, it refuses to be saddled," lamented the Qing emperor. "The painter's intention is at once revealed and concealed."
掌權者，譬如乾隆帝，往往將自己視為等待千里馬出現的伯樂。而韓愈的那句“世有伯樂，然后有千里馬”背后暗涌著的是懷才不遇的心痛。比他年輕22歲的“詩鬼”李賀，才華驚世卻壯志難酬，他的《馬詩二十三首》，寄托的是受傷的自尊，回蕩的是自比為千里駒后發出的“何當金絡腦，快走踏清秋”的感嘆。
元代畫家趙孟頫所作的《伯樂相馬圖》 大英博物館藏
"Only when there is a
bo le(a superb horse judge) does a ' qianlima ' (a horse that runs a thousand miles a day) appear,"wrote the Tang thinker Han Yu (768–824) in
On Horsesaround 795, at a moment when his career had stalled despite his commitment to public service. Beneath his keen observations runs a current of frustration shared by his younger contemporary Li He (790–816), a prodigy whose brilliance found expression in a brief but intense cycle of horse poems. In one, Li He speaks as the horse itself, voicing an urgent longing to break free and fulfill its potential.
事實上，在中國歷史的長河中，幾乎沒有哪個時代像戰國時期（公元前453—前221年）那樣，對人才懷有如此迫切而近乎焦灼的渴望。在那個延宕數百年，鐵血與謀略交織的時代，獲得人才常常意味著在生存與霸權的角逐中占據主動。
這種對人才的饑渴，至今仍回蕩在《戰國策》的篇章之中。其中最耐人尋味的一個，與一匹死馬有關。
為挽救國力日漸衰弱的燕國，燕昭王（公元前335—公元前279）向大臣郭隗請教招攬賢才之道。郭隗沒有直接作答，而是講述了一則寓言：從前有位君王，想得到一匹千里馬，卻多年未果。后來他派人去尋找，結果只找到一匹已經死去的千里馬。尋馬者并未嫌棄，反而花了五百金買下死馬的馬骨，鄭重帶回。消息傳開后，天下人紛紛議論：連死馬的骨頭都肯出高價購買，活馬又當如何？于是紛紛牽著良駒前來相投。
寓言的結論不言自明——若想得到真正的賢才，須先以禮相待那些看似平常之人，更卓越的才俊，自會循名而至。正是在這樣的敘事中，馬與人才之間的隱喻關系被牢牢確立。
唐代畫家韓干所作的《牧馬圖》 臺北故宮
中國歷史上最著名的相馬師“伯樂”也出現在《戰國策》中。原本無人問津的良駒因伯樂一顧而馬價十倍。此后兩千年，太多壯志難酬的才俊通過詩畫反復回到馬這一形象，既是訴說不平，也是對有朝一日被肯定為“千里馬”的隱約期盼。
No period in Chinese history hungered for talent more than the Warring States era (453–221 BC), a turbulent age of rival states locked in a struggle for survival and power, ending in 221 BC with Qin's unification of China. That urgency echoes in
Zhan Guo Ce
Strategies of the Warring States), a first-century-BC compilation of political and diplomatic stratagems. One of its best-known anecdotes centers on a dead horse: seeking to revive Yan, King Zhao asked his adviser Guo Wei how to attract talent. Guo replied with a parable — by paying dearly for the bones of a dead horse, a man signaled his sincerity, soon drawing the finest living steeds. Honor the ordinary first, Guo advised, and greater talent will follow.
在乾隆所收藏的大量古代書畫中，馬的形象屢見不鮮，尤以元代書畫巨匠趙孟頫（1254—1322）的作品最為重要。乾隆在為趙孟頫的一幅馬畫題跋時寫道：“集賢畫馬身即馬，牖中窺之無真假。何必晚年罷此技，應是自身不自寫?！?/strong>明確提出趙孟頫（集賢）畫馬就是在畫自己，而晚年不觸碰這一題材則是意識到一個人是無法深刻地描繪自身的（自身不自寫）。
元代畫家趙孟頫所作的《人騎圖》卷 北京故宮博物院
趙孟頫是否認同這種解讀，已無從得知。但可以確定的是，他對畫馬的熱情在家族中延續下來。紐約大都會藝術博物館藏有一卷長卷，描繪三匹馬，各配一名馬夫。此畫并非一時之作，而是由趙孟頫、其子趙雍、其孫趙麟三代陸續完成，跨越60余年，成為一份跨越三代的獨特視覺遺產。
吳興趙氏三世人馬圖（趙孟頫、趙雍、趙麟） 紐約大都會博物館藏
在元代，蒙古統治者對漢族士大夫的仕途加以嚴格限制。在這樣的背景下，馬的題材成為一種含蓄的呼吁，表達對文人才能被正視、被任用的期待。
Emperor Qianlong's vast collection of ancient painting and calligraphy included many horse images, notably works by Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322), the foremost painter-calligrapher of the Yuan dynasty, a Mongol-ruled era steeped in equestrian culture. While inscribing one of Zhao's horse paintings, the emperor reflected that the artist ceased painting horses not from diminished skill, but because one cannot fully behold oneself.
Zhao's fascination endured across generations: a handscroll in the Metropolitan Museum of Art depicts three horses painted over sixty-three years by Zhao, his son Zhao Yong, and his grandson Zhao Lin. Created in an era when Mongol rule sharply limited Han officials' advancement, such images served as a veiled appeal for the recognition and proper use of literati talent.
作為中國文人書畫傳統的代表，趙孟頫將馬從帝王權力的展示中抽離出來，移入文人藝術沉靜內斂的世界。他畫筆中的馬，是性情、筆意與自我修養的載體，這也是對宋代蘇軾等人所倡導的文人畫精神的延續。蘇軾曾謂：“觀士人畫，如閱天下馬，取其意氣所到。”然而即便是蘇軾，也明白才華與志氣，終究未必足以換來命運所允諾的回報，感嘆“八鑾六轡非馬謀”。（八鑾六轡不是千里馬自己能夠謀求的；另有一種解釋是，八鑾六轡本身就不是熱愛自由的千里馬所求。）
遼陳國公主墓出土馬具
Steeped in calligraphy and classical learning, Zhao Mengfu transformed the depiction of horses by shifting them from the domain of imperial display into the inner world of literati art. Anatomical precision, heroic posture, and political symbolism recede; in their place emerge quiet, contemplative steeds that serve as vessels for temperament, brushwork, and self-cultivation — rendered with a scholar's restraint, subtlety, and spirit.
Speaking of spirit, Su Shi (1037–1101) — a towering cultural figure who lived more than two centuries before Zhao and with whom Zhao felt a deep artistic affinity — once remarked that appreciating a true literati painting is like surveying the finest horses: what matters is not surface detail but the surge of spirit and the sweep of intention.
所謂意氣，既是書生胸中的意氣，也是一個民族在歷史風雨中挺立不屈的意氣。徐悲鴻筆下的馬，筋骨遒勁，四蹄生風，仿佛下一刻便要沖破畫幅。濃淡分明的水墨線條勾勒出清晰的結構與強健的體魄，既有西方寫實訓練帶來的解剖精準，又保留了中國筆墨的奔放與節制。在抗日戰爭時期，徐悲鴻的馬成為不屈精神與民族復興的象征。
徐悲鴻所作的《奔馬圖》軸 北京故宮博物院
That surge of spirit is powerfully captured by the works of Xu Beihong (1895–1953), the most renowned painter of horses in modern China. Swept forward in broad ink lines and taut compositions, his horses are rarely still: they surge, rear, and strain ahead, their energy barely contained. Trained in Western anatomical study yet grounded in Chinese brush tradition, Xu gave these figures both physical weight and expressive force.
During China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), Xu's horses came to stand for resilience, moral resolve, and the aspiration of a society struggling toward renewal.
在宋代，中國通過“茶馬互市”等制度化方式獲取戰馬，以茶葉交換來自西南和西北邊疆地區的良馬。這一體系在元代逐漸衰落，因為蒙古統治者直接控制了歐亞草原，茶易馬的必要性大大降低。
到了明代（1368—1644），隨著邊防壓力加劇，馬匹供應問題再次凸顯。明代馬匹供應主要依賴三大體系：官方牧養（太仆寺、苑馬寺管理，輔以民間俵馬制度）、邊境貿易（以茶馬司主導的漢藏茶馬互市，及后期與蒙古的遼東、宣大等邊市），以及戰時俘獲與征調。明廷也通過朝貢貿易從朝鮮獲得少量馬匹。
明代馬上封侯（猴）玉雕件 紐約大都會博物館藏
During the Song Dynasty between the 10th and 13th century, China institutionalized horse acquisition through systems such as the Tea–Horse Trade, exchanging tea for warhorses from Tibetan and other frontier regions in the west and southwest. These routes declined under the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), as the Mongol rulers' direct control of the Eurasian steppe reduced the need for tea-for-horse exchange.
In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the question of horse supply resurfaced. Warhorses were obtained through several parallel channels: Joseon Korea, particularly Jeju Island, provided horses through tribute and limited trade, though these remained supplementary, while frontier horse markets along the northern border enabled regulated exchange with Mongol groups for steppe-bred mounts. The Tea-Horse Trade was also revived, reflecting the Ming state's persistent effort to secure reliable cavalry resources, as well as the animal's crucial role in facilitating exchanges.
明代的吳承恩寫下了《西游記》。唐僧的白龍馬，名字本身便回響著一種古老的信念：最強健的駿馬，源自龍的血脈。白龍馬, 是“天馬”的文學回響。
時至今日，在甘肅張掖市山丹縣境內的山丹馬場，仍有馬群在奔跑。這里地處河西走廊中段，祁連山北麓，自古就是重要的軍馬牧養區。上世紀20年代，這里建立了國營馬場。到了六七十年代，600余名青年懷抱著一種屬于他們那個時代的理想奔赴山丹馬場，這種理想，后來被定格在電影與文學之中，成為一代人永恒的回憶。
甘肅張掖山丹軍馬場
In the mid-16th century China, a man named Wu Cheng'en wrote
Journey to the West, a mythological fantasy inspired by the historical Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who lived in seventh-century China and journeyed to India in search of authentic Buddhist scriptures.
In Wu's retelling, the fictional monk is accompanied by three disciples who serve at once as attendants, companions, and protectors. Yet before any of them join the pilgrimage, the monk is first given a horse — the White Dragon Horse — whose very name echoes an ancient belief that the mightiest steeds are descended from dragons.
Today, on the grasslands and river-fed pastures of Gansu Province in northwestern China — where the Heavenly Horses once grazed — modern herds still roam and run, raised on government ranches first established in the 1920s. In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of young men arrived at horse ranches Ranch in Gansu, drawn by an ideal of frontier service that defined their generation and later found expression in film and literature — faint yet persistent echoes of the youthful idealism that has inspired heroism on this land since ancient times.
中國歷史上最動人的關于馬的故事，屬于西楚霸王項羽和他的烏騅。公元前202年，項羽被劉邦軍圍困，突圍至江畔自刎，烏騅躍江殉主。歷史與傳說交織，英雄與戰馬成為悲劇命運的雙重象征。項羽覆滅令人唏噓，而漢朝在劉邦手中建立并綿延深遠，絲綢之路漸通，西域良馬源源而來，東漢名將馬援的“男兒要當死于邊野，以馬革裹尸還葬耳?！?/strong>被后世銘記的，并非只有榮耀，更有人在命運面前決斷的尺度。
西漢玉馬 咸陽博物院
Perhaps the most tragic bond between hero and horse is that of Xiang Yu, the peerless warlord of late Qin. Surrounded in 202 BCE by forces led by Liu Bang, Xiang Yu knew defeat was certain. After breaking through enemy lines, he released his beloved steed Wuzhui and took his own life by the river. Legend says the horse followed, leaping into the water to die with its master — an image that fuses valor and ruin into a single, unforgettable end.
Xiang Yu's fall cleared the way for the Han dynasty, founded by Liu Bang, a dynasty that proved enduring and expansive. As the Silk Road took shape, fine horses from the western regions flowed east, helping secure the empire's far frontiers.
New eras bred new legends. The Han general Ma Yuan famously said a man should die on the frontier, his body wrapped in horsehide — a line echoed for centuries, not as a boast, but as a stark measure of resolve in the face of fate.
于是《楚辭》的提問又回來了——是昂首如駿馬，還是隨波若浮鴨？它像一根細線，穿過戰國的熾烈、漢唐的擴張、英雄的沉浮與文人的感喟。
國家之力量、自由之精神、未竟之抱負......歷史并非抽象的概念，而是由無數奔跑的瞬間構成，這條路上車轔轔，馬蕭蕭，塵漫漫，風獵獵......
甘肅出土的漢代木車馬
And for all people — whether remembered as emperors and generals or lost to anonymity — the question remains, gently and inexorably: "Should one lift his head like a powerful steed, or drift with the current like a duck upon the water?"
記者：趙旭
跟著China Daily
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