Nestled in the Ili River Valley of China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Zhaosu County is transforming its legendary equine heritage into a diversified economic engine. The area, historically celebrated for its fabled ‘Tianma’ (heavenly horses) that once served dynastic courier routes and frontier defense systems, has successfully reimagined the role of horses in the modern economy.
With approximately 122,300 horses recorded by late 2025—representing a significant portion of China’s total equine population—Zhaosu has pioneered a comprehensive strategy to monetize its historical assets. The county has shifted from traditional horse-raising practices to sophisticated equine operations focused on leisure riding, competitive sports, and specialized breeding programs.
The transformation is supported by state-owned breeding farms implementing genetic improvement initiatives, a county-wide network standardizing artificial insemination services, and Xinjiang’s first performance-testing center specifically designed for sport and leisure-oriented horse breeding. The Zhaosu equine hospital, equipped with advanced surgical theaters, serology labs, and molecular diagnostics facilities, represents another pillar of this modernization effort, providing professional veterinary care previously unavailable in China’s horse sector.
Competitive events have become a cornerstone of the new strategy, with over 420 races and equestrian competitions hosted since 2021. The week-long Super Derby International Equestrian TREC Endurance on Silk Road has attracted participants from multiple countries, featuring routes extending up to 500 kilometers.
Tourism has been strategically integrated with equine activities, creating year-round attractions that extend beyond traditional summer visits. Winter’s ‘heavenly horses treading snow’ spectacle and summer’s ‘horses bathing in the river’ have become viral phenomena, drawing 9.4 million visitors in 2025 to a county with fewer than 200,000 residents.
The economic impact extends into value-added processing, with local biotechnology firms refining horse fat into premium cosmetics and traditional Chinese medicine products. This downstream processing has elevated what was once a single-stage pastoral economy into a multifaceted industry generating 1.53 billion yuan ($220 million) in output and supporting tens of thousands of local farmers and herders.