Archaeologists in the northwestern province of Gansu (China) discovered a 3,000-year-old pot with a design showing a scene of horse-pasturing in Minqin County recently. The painted design shows a man herding eight horses. Some of these horses are bucking and some stand quietly; some have tails and some do not. All of the horses have large buttocks, slender waists and thin legs. Surrounded by the eight horses, the wide-shouldered, slender-waisted man is in a long gown. His physique and dress are quite similar to those of ethnic people living in the horse-taming area,said Wang Haidong, Vice Chairman of the Gansu Provincial Painted Pottery Research Institute.
     The pot, 22 centimeters high and 24 centimeters in diameter, has a pair of symmetrical handles on each side of its body and a sunken bottom. It's body is painted with complicated pictures and images, and alternating black and red broken lines. The most eye-catching of these pictures is the image of the man and the horses. This is the first time that ancient painted pottery with a horse-pasturing picture has been discovered in China, Wang said, adding that the picture indicates that horses were domesticated in China as long as 3,000 years ago.

Source: China View (12 September 2004)