Horses and riders take to Beijing streets for World Environment Day (CHN)

Making Perfect Horse Sense

Riders are greeted by curious onlookers on the Beijing streets.

Cross-posted from China Daily

Written by WANG KAIHAO

Fed up with using your car amid rising fuel prices, soaring parking costs and bumper-to-bumper traffic? Try riding a horse to work. At least, that’s what more than 100 people in 16 Chinese cities did on Friday, two days before World Environment Day.

In Beijing, five riders were greeted by a blitzkrieg of flashlights and hordes of curious onlookers as they made their way from Gaobeidian in the east of the city, through the capital’s central business district of Guomao, to the hutong area of Houhai – a distance of 24 kilometers.

“We’re not the first ones to try this,” says Wutzala, a Manchu man and initiator of the activity, who is also a member of the Beijing-based China Equestrian Association.

“Some city people are already using horses as their main means of travel.”

Wutzala says he was merely bringing riding to society’s attention.

“It’s not a stunt. We’re not just riding a horse but raising awareness of an eco-friendly, low-carbon means of travel.”

Zhao Xiaoshuang, one of the five riders says, “It’s really enjoyable and fashionable to ride a horse on city streets. More importantly, it’s more convenient and even faster than navigating a car in a traffic jam.”

Zhao lives in Beijing’s eastern outskirt of Tongzhou and works downtown. During the rush hour, her car barely covers 10 km in an hour. Read full article >>