Q. Should all terracotta horses date back to the Tang dynasty?
WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS
Dragon Culture's Victor Choi has spent the past seven years researching the topic for his book, Horses for Eternity. 'People love collecting horses,' says Choi. 'We can't talk about terracotta horses without first understanding the history of the real thing.
'Horses were admired in China for their speed and endurance, and were indispensable in warfare, hunting and the aristocratic pastime of polo.'
According to Choi, there are three main types: the forest horse, which didn't exist in China and therefore was not recreated in terracotta; the Mongolian Asian wild horse, a rough, work animal with short legs and a bigger head; and the desert horse from central and western Asia, prized for its leaner form, longer body and legs, and smaller head.
'In 1996, archaeological research and DNA tests proved the desert horse was introduced to China by the nomadic Tocharian tribes more than 4,000 years ago, and cross-bred with the Mongolian wild horse,' says Choi.