The silk road imperial horses of China

Different China | World’s second largest horse farm, the Shandan Horse Ranch with a size of 2000 km2 is located in the Qilian Mountain highlands in North-Western China’s Gansu province.

With a history of more than 2000 years, the farm has introduced Turkestan horses, Mongolian horses and Shandan horse hybrids and has been the base of the base of military and royal horses through several dynasties in the past. The total number of the magnificent Shandan horses today exceeds 10,000.

Various historical documents indicate the existence of Shandan horse farm to be raising horses since the Sui Dynasty Era in 581 AD. However, the region itself has already been known for the sturdy horses and grasslands since the older Han Dynasty.

The Shandan Horse Ranch has been a famous point on the ancient Silk Road in the Hexi Corridor, one of the two major routes getting into China. At that time, the Shandan horses had been interbred with Central China species which led to improved and stronger horses for China’s Imperial Armies.

See a small impression of the Shandan horse farm during the last harsh winter in following video by SCMP

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