National Museum Horse Year Spring Festival Exhibition Opens

On January 30, 2026, the National Museum of China opened “Leaping Horse, Cracking Whip — Horse Year Spring Festival Culture Exhibition” (跃马扬鞭——马年新春文化展) in Hall North 8. Running for three months, the exhibition welcomes the *bingwu* Year of the Horse with more than 120 horse-related artifacts and artworks.

A Celebration of the Horse in Chinese Civilization

The exhibition is organized by the National Museum of China, with support from the Gansu Provincial Museum, the Gansu Museum of Bamboo and Wooden Slips, the Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology (Shaanxi Archaeological Museum), the Qingzhou Museum, and the Mianyang Museum.

The horse has been a companion of Chinese civilization since its domestication — a marker of social rank and military strength, an engine of communication and trade, and a key link along the Silk Road. It also occupies a deep place in Chinese feeling and language: the “silver saddle, white horse” of youthful dash, the “old steed in the stable” of undimmed ambition, and the “dragon-horse spirit” of vitality all express longings for a better life.

Five Sections, 120+ Treasures

The artifacts are organized in five thematic sections:

• *Liangju ban wenming* (良驹伴文明, fine steeds accompany civilization) — the horse in daily and ritual life
• *Chema zhao lizhi* (车马昭礼制, chariots and horses manifest ritual order) — status and ceremony
• *Anpei you gongqiao* (鞍辔有工巧, saddles and bridles show craftsmanship) — equestrian equipment
• *Tisheng tong wanli* (蹄声通万里, hoofbeats across ten thousand li) — transport and the Silk Road
• *Shenjun hui liunian* (神骏绘流年, divine steeds in art) — the horse in painting and sculpture

Together the five units show the horse in every register of Chinese culture — from bronze chariot fittings and jade ornaments to ink paintings of galloping steeds — revealing both its practical roles and its enduring symbolic power.

A New Year’s Wish

The museum’s message to visitors: may everyone in the new year summon the courage of a rider cracking the whip, the vitality of ten thousand horses, and the tireless energy of the dragon-horse spirit — pressing forward with confidence in the year ahead.

“Leaping Horse, Cracking Whip — Horse Year Spring Festival Culture Exhibition” remains on view in Hall North 8 of the National Museum of China for a run of three months from January 30, 2026.

Source: https://www.cntizi.com/21941.html