“The Eight Horses” by Xu Beihong (1895-1953). Image: Wikimedia.

Year of the Horse (year 4712) celebrates qualities of the steed, known by western scientific name of equus ferus. In China’s central Henan Province, Luoyang was critical to the Grand Canal. Here grains, loaded in the south, were brought via a system of canals including the Luo River, to be stored and distributed. Luoyang was the capital of China for many dynasties including the Tang; in the 13th century (C.E.), the Yuan Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing. But Louyang remains home to the White Horse Temple, which some believe may have been important to the foundation of Buddhism in China.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.