For centuries the vast and mysterious grasslands of Inner Mongolia have been a magnet for intrepid explorers, and if there’s a place that can’t be ignored, it is the Horqin Prairie. One of the four largest grasslands in China, it lies in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia and was historically a center for Mongol culture. Once upon a time, the territory belonged to Genghis Khan’s younger brother, Qasar, whose descendant, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, gave birth to the first Qing Dynasty ruler to control all of China.
This magical land has cradled more than just rulers. It also fostered traditional nomadic pursuits, including the three most popular Mongolian ‘games of men’: horse racing, wrestling and archery. Symbols of power, skill and masculinity, these athletic disciplines flow in Mongol veins like blood and are passed down from generation to generation.
Considering the terrain in which they live, it should surprise few people that of the three sports, horse riding is the most revered amongst the autonomous region’s ethnic minority, which make up 85 percent of the populace. What else could be more appropriate for the wide expanses of their bucolic native land?
Drawing on this pastime, the Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner administrative district has hosted a horse racing competition every year since 2008, rebranded this year as the Horse Racing Tour. Half a decade of development has made the annual event a grand occasion for the area, featuring many different categories of competition. This year, a new event solely for beasts under 1.4 meters high has been created to promote the local Mongolian horse, which is shorter and stockier than the average breed and is normally between 1.2 and 1.35 meters.
Thousands of equine lovers and racers dress up in colorful ethnic costumes and gather together on the prairie. Mounting horses, shouting raucously and whipping their steeds into a frenzy, the riders turn the whole grassland into a battlefield for honor, where only the great and the good win applause and hoorays from the excited crowds.
Aside from the horse play, Horqin offers many other cultural gems to entice: its unique five-color maple forest, where the hue of the leaves undergoes a stunning transformation after autumn’s frost; the oft-overlooked heritage of Mongol embroidery; and the Andai dance, which was once thought to cure sickness. Everywhere you turn in Inner Mongolia there’s something unusual and unique waiting to be discovered.
0 User Comments