The Horses of Xinjiang
From ancient times Xinjiang has been known as a region of fine horses. As early as 2,000 years ago, the Han emperor Wudi gave the name "heavenly horses" to the horses of Usun (present-day lli), and the founder of the Later Liang Dynasty (907-923), Luguang, praised the horses of Qiuci (now Kuqa) as "

the finest horsesin heaven." According to the Bei Shi-The Account of Gaochang the state of Gaochang (now Turpan) also produced famed horses, and people today stillsay that the "rouged horses" of Barkol are descended from a divine steed, while those of Yanqi, known as "dragon steeds," are the descendants of a dragon. Every region of Xinjiang produces superb horses which are seldom seen in other
provinces. In Xinjiang, horses are the subject of a number of beautiful folktales and stories from history, the most enchanting of which is the tale of "The Heavenly Steed." This horse was from Usun and the progenitor of all the horses in lli today. According to the Han ' Sbu-The Account of the Western Region, Usun "has a great many horses, with rich people owning as many as four or five thousand each." In 119 B.C., when the Hah envoy Zhang Qian returned to Chang'an from his second journey to the Western Region, be brought back with him ten or twenty envoys from the King of Usun and a similar number of Usun horses. Ten years later, the King of Usun,sent another envoy to the Han court with a betrothal gift of 1,000 excellent carefully chosen horses and a marriage proposal so as to conclude an alliance with the Ham The Emperor Wudi consented to this request, and first sent Princess Xi Jun, daughter of the King of Jiang Du, and then Princess Jie You, granddaughter of the King of Chu as brides for the King of Usun. From then on huge numbers of Usun horses were brought into Central China, and this played a significant role in consolidating the borders of the Hah empire, increasing the strength of the military and developing production, transport and communications. The Emperor Wudi was so delighted at obtaining the fleet-footed Usun horses that he wrote this inscription: "The heavenly horses fly through the air." Some tifne afterwards, however, the emperor managed to get some horses from Dawan (Ferghana, now part of the Soviet Union) which were even hardiei' and stronger, so he changed the name of the Usun horses to "horses of the western extremity" and gave the title "heavenly horses" to those from Dawan. The famous Tang (618-907) poet Li Bai in a poem wrote this of the Usun horses: "Galloping over the Kunlun Mountains, the sure-footed steeds pass.
through the Western Region. At cockcrow they leave Hebei, reaching Zhejiang by nightfall, hardly a soul aware of their miraculous passing, swift as lightning." As this journey is one of around 1,000
kilometers, the verse shows the admiration of the people of the time for the horses of Usun. Nowadays, over 2,000 years later, the "heavenly horses" and "horses from the western extremity" of old roaming the Ill grasslands have taken on a new elegance, with all the marks of good breeding. They are still as fast as ever-the horses of Iii can cover 1,000 meters in a mere 1 minute 15.4 seconds, which is over 4 seconds faster than the famous Sanhe horses of Inner Mongolia. In four-wheeled carriage races, two Iii horses can pull a one-ton load over eighteen kilometers at a speed of almost twelve kilometers per boar, which is as fast as a ten-horsepower walking tractor.
As well as serving as mounts for the Kazak herdspeople, the horses of Iii provide excellent milk and tasty meat. An adult mare can suckle its foal and on top of that provide an extra five kilograms or more of milk each day, so that basing calculations on the herdspeople's customary milking period of 120 days in the year, each mare can give over 6()0 kilograms of milk a year. Mare's milk has a very high protein, fat and lactose content, and serves as the
herdspeople's summer beverage. It is also effective in the treatment of various illnesses, such as stomach trouble and pulmonary tuberculosis, ni horse meat is lean with very little extraneous fat, fresh and tender, and with an excellent flavor. Food departments in the ni region also process horsemeat to make cured cold cuts and sausages which can be served as a hors d'oeuvre together with wine. People find these products tasty and convenient, and they enjoy great popularity in other regions as well. The horses of the lli River valley are mainly to be found in the counties of Zhaosu (Mongolkure), Tekes, Xinyuan (Kunes) and Nfika as well as a few others, and have increased to number over 106,000 today, accounting for over nine percent of Xinjiang's horses. Many other kinds of famous horses are found in Xinjiang, but the Kazak horses are the breed which provide the basis far horse raising in Xinjiang. Most of them are to be found north of the Tianshan Mountains, and they make up well over half the total horse popula-tion in Xinjiang. Yanqi and Barkol also produce well-known horses which' are fast, strong, hardy and adaptable. In December I983, two horses were selected from Ill to be presented by the Chinese government to the King of Morocco. These horses, as representatives of China, carried the seeds of friendship with them to Africa. Just as in the past the horses of Xinjiang havre performed great exploits, in today's "thousand Ii gallop" of China's modernization program, they are once again making a contribution.