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The Han dynasty Emperor Wudi sent a huge military expedition to Ferghana in 104 B.C. to acquire a sufficient number of "Heavenly Horses". The Han suffered a military defeat and went home empty handed. [4] In 102 B.C., the Chinese gathered a massive army of over 60,000 men and 30,000 horses, for a campaign to acquire "Heavenly Horses".
The furthest Chinese conquests to the north and west were achieved under the Han, Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties thanks to extensive military-managed horse-farms, involving hundreds of thousands of horses. Horses were highly valued and prevalent until late in Qing dynasty period of 1644–1912.
The War of the Heavenly Horses (simplified Chinese: 天马之战; traditional Chinese: 天馬之戰; pinyin: Tiānmǎ zhī Zhàn) or the Han–Dayuan War (simplified Chinese: 汉宛战争; traditional Chinese: 漢宛戰爭; pinyin: Hàn Yuān Zhànzhēng) was a military conflict fought in 104 BC and 102 BC between the Chinese Han dynasty and the Saka-ruled (Scythian) Greco-Bactrian kingdom ...
The horses were acquired for military use and for breeding. [14] "Horses are the foundation of military power, the great resources of the state but, should this falter, the state will fall" – Ma Yuan (14BC – 49AD), a Han dynasty military general and horse expert. [14]
Guo was struck by the beauty of the horse and selected it for national and international exhibition. [4] The horse in the bronze is a breed brought back from Fergana by a punitive expedition sent by Emperor Han Wudi in 104 BCE. These "celestial horses" were highly prized as marks of status. [5]
The military of the Han dynasty was the military apparatus of China from 202 BC to 220 AD, ... the inhabitants killed their king and provided the Han army 3,000 horses.
These horses of Central Asia were legendary for their size and prowess. Historically, the flying, blood-sweating, dragon-boned, celestial horses are connected with the Han dynasty and the emperor Han Wudi, and notably celebrated in the poetry of the Tang dynasty by the poet Li Bo (Beckwith, 112 and Schafer, 59-60).
The Han dynasty ruled in an era of Chinese cultural consolidation, political experimentation, relative economic prosperity and maturity, and great technological advances. There was unprecedented territorial expansion and exploration initiated by struggles with non-Chinese peoples, especially the nomadic Xiongnu of the Eurasian Steppe.