做千里马还是水中鸭？老祖宗的终极问题来了

一匹奔马，定格在腾空而起的一瞬。四蹄离地，疾驰如飞，头颅微侧，像把某种不可遏止的欢欣与力量一并甩向周遭。翕张的鼻翼，凸出的双眼——每一处细节都在诉说：这不是静物，是冲破束缚的意志，是时间被压缩到一个闪电般的刹那。

雷台汉墓出土的铜奔马 甘肃省博物馆 陈坤/for China Daily

它出土于1969年，甘肃武威雷台汉墓。在墓室封闭近一千九百年后，它穿越漫长的黑暗与沉寂，回到我们面前，成为一种象征：坚韧与速度，生命力与昂扬气息。它像从历史深处伸出的一条线索，牵引我们去看中国漫长岁月里，“马”如何被理解、被需要、被想象。

A galloping horse, caught mid-gallop in a moment of unrestrained exhilaration — all four hooves lifted from the earth, its head tipped to one side in joyous abandon. From its flared nostrils to its gaping mouth and wild, bulging eyes, every detail testifies to the boundless force surging through its veins in that single, blazing instant.

Excavated in 1969 from a Han-dynasty tomb in Wuwei city in northwestern China — its chambers sealed nearly nineteen centuries ago — the bronze horse has since become an emblem of strength. It stands as a testament to fortitude, a token of unbridled vigor and verve, capturing not only the spirit of its own age but a vital strand of China's long historical arc.

fortitude /ˈfɔːr.t̬ə.tuːd/ 勇气，坚韧，刚毅

verve /vɝːv/ 精力，活力，热情

《易经》六十四卦中的第一卦为“乾卦”，象征不息的创造之力。《易经》中写道：“乾为天、为圜、为君、为父、为玉、为金......为良马、为瘠马、为驳马......”马与君父、天地、金玉并列，被置于生成万物的根源性力量之中。它所代表的不是一种工具，而是一种生命的势，一种向前的动能。

The celebration and divination of the horse can be traced to the

Yi Jing

Book of Changes

), one of the oldest and most influential classics in Chinese thought, with origins more than three millennia old. At its core are 64 hexagrams mapping the universe ' s transformations. The first,

qian gua

, embodies unbroken creative force: "

qian

is heaven… jade, gold… fire, the horse — whether robust, lean, or mottled." In this paradigm, the horse stands alongside heaven, metal, and fire — generative forces that govern the world.

这种想象很快与现实的隆隆声结合——马拉战车。到商代晚期，战车已成为改变战争形态的重要力量。殷墟车马坑的考古发现表明，商代晚期木质马车工艺精湛，作为王侯贵族的专属重要资源，兼具军事实战、礼仪象征、田猎出行等多重功能。其陪葬制度集中体现了当时的社会等级、军事权力与祭祀文化。

河南省安阳市殷墟博物馆车马坑遗迹

此后数百年，马拉战车既是弓手与戈兵的机动平台，也是贵族身份的标志。围绕战车建立的体系——养马、铸铜、训练御者与武士——一点点收紧了早期国家的行政与后勤的肌理。精英战车部队的规模成为国家实力的衡量标准。这一观念在秦始皇陵附近出土的铜车马中得到震撼的呈现。

陕西西安秦始皇帝陵博物院展出的秦铜车马 苏卫忠/for China Daily

This imagery deepened as horse-drawn chariots thundered through early Chinese history, their presence recorded in texts and tombs alike. By the late Shang dynasty, around 1200 BC, chariots drawn by powerful horses had become a transformative force. Excavations at Anyang in northern Henan reveal sophisticated chariots buried with kings and nobles, attesting to their dual roles in warfare and ritual. In the centuries that followed, chariots served both as mobile platforms for archers and spearmen and as clear markers of aristocratic rank. Sustaining them required an extensive system — horse breeding, bronze casting, and the training of drivers and warriors — binding military power to state administration.

chariot /ˈtʃer.i.ət/ （古时用于比赛或战争的）双轮马车

sophisticated /səˈfɪs.tə.keɪ.t̬ɪd/ 精密的，高级的

然而战车终究让位于骑兵——“白登之围”将匈奴轻骑兵的战斗力显示无疑。对强健良马的渴求在汉代发展为深植人心的对“天马”的崇尚。传说“天马”由凡马与龙所生，于是得到天马意味着被赋予神性以及拥有统治的正当性。

公元前2世纪，汉武帝派张骞出使西域，既为结盟，也为求马。武威出土的青铜奔马，正凝固了那个“中国”作为统一集权的国家形态逐渐成形的时代所拥有的昂扬气象。

雷台汉墓出土的执戟铜骑士

Chariots soon gave way to mounted cavalry, transforming warfare and elevating the warhorse to new importance. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), demand for powerful steeds became intense, giving rise to the legend of the "Heavenly Horses", believed to have been born of a union between earthly horses and dragons.

In reality, these prized horses came from the Western Regions, where the envoy Zhang Qian journeyed in the 2nd century BC. His return in 126 BC with news of the Ferghana horses spurred the Han court to open diplomatic routes across Central Asia, arteries of cultural and commercial exchanges later known as the Silk Road. The galloping bronze horse unearthed in Wuwei distills the spirit of this age — speed, expansion, and the confidence of a frontier dynasty taking shape.

distill /dɪˈstɪl/ 提炼，浓缩

汉代投下的回响，被唐代接住并放大。唐朝在军事力量和社会繁荣方面与汉比肩，甚至超越汉代。正如汉代皇帝需要应对匈奴的威胁，唐代统治者也必须面对突厥这一草原强敌，由此衍生出的，是两者对马的共同礼赞。

If the Han dynasty sent a powerful echo down the corridor of history, the Tang caught it — and returned it with even greater force. Both dynasties confronted formidable nomadic powers on the Eurasian steppe and understood that true security lay not in isolation, but in engagement.

唐代丝绸之路达到鼎盛，粟特商人往来其间，他们的身影出现在唐三彩里：商人、骆驼与马并置，展现一个自信外溢的中国。

唐代唐三彩粟特人骑马像

与汉马相比，唐马更修长、更从容，那种松弛而庄重的气度，是盛唐自信的写照。《虢国夫人游春图》中贵族女性安然骑行，在深受外来文化影响的世界里，骑术成为休闲方式与社交礼仪。

唐代画家张萱所作的《虢国夫人游春图》宋代摹本 辽宁省博物馆

陕西咸阳唐太子李贤墓中的壁画亦然：奔马飞驰，击球者挥槌，外国使节与主人们热烈地交谈——马球场不仅是娱乐之所，也是仅次于宫廷的重要外交舞台。

章怀太子李贤墓壁画中的“马球图”

Under the Tang, the Silk Road reached its zenith. Sogdian merchants moved freely between Chang'an and the far western lands, their presence vividly captured in Tang sancai (tri-color) figurines, where traders appear alongside camels and horses. In the Tang-dynasty painting Lady Guo's Spring Outing, aristocratic women ride with effortless poise, reflecting a society in which equestrian pursuits — shaped by cosmopolitan influences — had become integral to ceremony, leisure, and display.

zenith /ˈziː.nɪθ/ 顶峰，鼎盛时期

The same spirit animates the murals in the tomb of Tang prince Li Xian in present-day Xianyang, where galloping horses and polo players on one wall directly face another that features foreign envoys in distinctive dress, engaged in conversation with their Tang hosts. The polo ground emerges as a diplomatic stage, second only to the palace.

与此同时，马蹄的印痕深深踏入了中国诗歌史中。“衰翁送客水边行，沙衬马蹄乌帽点。”（苏轼）——老友送别、久别归乡，或是踏上远赴边塞之路，这些深刻塑造人生的瞬间，都有马的见证。

杜甫写骏马“竹批双耳峻，风入四蹄轻。”若要给这几句诗找一个视觉对应，那就是武威铜奔马。更耐人寻味的是，追逐“天马”的故事始于张骞，可他归来时并未带回一匹马，同行者几乎尽死或离散：伟大的奔跑背后，往往是孤绝的跋涉。

汉代墨绘木马 中新社记者 九美旦增 摄

As a road companion, horses bore silent witness to shifting moods and decisive passages — returning home after a long sojourn, bidding farewell to an old friend, or setting off for a distant frontier. Such moments, profoundly formative, were carefully recorded in verse, especially during China's Tang and Song dynasties between the 7th and 14th centuries.

"Bamboo-hewn ears thrust high and taut; the wind beneath its hooves — light, fleet, unwrought."

If those lines, from Tang-dynasty poet Du Fu (712-770), had a visual counterpart, it would be the bronze horse unearthed from the Wuwei Han tomb. The quest for these "nomad steeds" — or "heavenly horses" — began with Zhang Qian's extraordinary mission. Yet few remember that Zhang Qian—who departed dreaming of such steeds — returned thirteen years later with neither horse nor retinue. All but one companion had deserted him or died along the way, leaving only the envoy himself to carry home the knowledge that would reshape China's horizons.

古老的提问也随之浮现：“宁昂昂若千里之驹乎？将氾氾若水中之凫乎？”（“是昂首如骏马，还是随波若浮鸭？”）它出自《楚辞》，炽烈而充满自省。数百年后，曹操给出了回答：“老骥伏枥，志在千里；烈士暮年，壮心不已。”

唐代唐三彩马 罗鸿贤/for China Daily

魏晋之交，马与英雄的意象合二为一。“人中吕布，马中赤兔”，曹操的绝影驮他在箭雨中突围，刘备的的卢一跃过檀溪，它们是忠诚与牺牲的象征，完美诠释杜甫诗中的“所向无空阔，真堪托死生。”

"Should one lift his head like a powerful steed, or drift with the current like a duck upon the water?" The question comes from the

Chuci

Songs of Chu

), a foundational poetic anthology of the Warring States period (475–221 BC). Centuries later, the warlord-poet Cao Cao offered his answer: "The old steed, tethered in the stable, still yearns to gallop a thousand miles; the hero, though in his twilight years, holds fast to a heart that never ages." Written around 213, at a moment when age pressed upon him even as ambition still burned, the verse captures both the fatigue of a lifetime and the undimmed desire for one more triumph.

On one side stands the image of the mighty horse; on the other, the figure of the unyielding hero. Over time, the two fuse.

若论与名马最难分离的帝王，非唐太宗李世民莫属。他称帝后命石刻《昭陵六骏》，描绘伴他征战的六匹战马，其中一块刻画的是名为“飒露紫”的战马。画面中，一名男子正从重伤的飒露紫身上拔出箭矢，这也使这块浮雕石刻成为六骏图中唯一出现人物形象的作品，格外动人。此后千余年间，这组石刻几经流散，如今四件仍存中国，另两件于20世纪初流失海外，现藏于美国费城宾夕法尼亚大学考古与人类学博物馆。

《昭陵六骏》“飒露紫”石刻 宾夕法尼亚大学考古与人类学博物馆藏

If any figure in Chinese history is inseparable from great warhorses, it is Li Shimin — Emperor Taizong (598–649), the second ruler of the Tang dynasty (618–907). Before his death, the architect of Tang's rise commissioned stone reliefs depicting the six horses that carried him through the campaigns that founded the dynasty. Installed at Zhaoling (the Zhao Mausoleum), the emperor's final resting place, near present-day Xi'an, these carvings later became known as the Zhaoling Six Horses. Over time, they were dispersed: four remain in China, while two were taken abroad in the early 20th century and are now held by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

One of the two depicts the horse Saluzi ("Autumn Dew") at the moment an arrow is withdrawn from its body, the only relief in the group to include a human figure.

近百年后，李世民的曾孙唐玄宗李隆基，命宫廷画师韩干于约750年为爱驹“照夜白”作画。这幅画现藏于纽约大都会艺术博物馆，被公认为中国绘画史上最伟大的马画之一。画中马目炯炯，鼻翼张扬，四蹄躁动，积蓄的力量几乎无法抑制，仿佛下一刻便要挣脱缰绳。（也有学者认为大都会所藏为宋代摹品。）

唐玄宗命韩干所画其爱马“照夜白” 美国纽约大都会艺术博物馆藏

画卷上千余年的印章题跋记录着一段艺术史的传奇：乾隆赞其毛发英姿“却似梨花开月殿”，又叹其张扬态度“试看受勒不受鞍”。

Nearly a century later, Li Longji — Emperor Taizong's grandson and the seventh ruler of the Tang — commissioned a portrait of his favored charger, Zhaoyebai (Night-Shining White), painted around 750 by the court artist Han Gan. Now in the collection of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the work is widely regarded as the greatest equine portrait in Chinese painting. With blazing eyes, flared nostrils, and restless hooves, the horse appears on the verge of breaking free from its tether, its coiled energy barely contained.

on the verge of 接近于……，濒于……

Equally striking are the seals and inscriptions added over more than a millennium by later owners and admirers, a hallmark of Chinese connoisseurship that traces the painting's transmission and enduring influence. Among them are several poems and seals by the Qing emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), who once held the scroll himself and wrote of the white horse as "resembling pear blossoms in a moon-lit courtyard."

"Though muzzled, it refuses to be saddled," lamented the Qing emperor. "The painter's intention is at once revealed and concealed."

掌权者，譬如乾隆帝，往往将自己视为等待千里马出现的伯乐。而韩愈的那句“世有伯乐，然后有千里马”背后暗涌着的是怀才不遇的心痛。比他年轻22岁的“诗鬼”李贺，才华惊世却壮志难酬，他的《马诗二十三首》，寄托的是受伤的自尊，回荡的是自比为千里驹后发出的“何当金络脑，快走踏清秋”的感叹。

元代画家赵孟頫所作的《伯乐相马图》 大英博物馆藏

"Only when there is a

bo le

(a superb horse judge) does a ' qianlima ' (a horse that runs a thousand miles a day) appear,"wrote the Tang thinker Han Yu (768–824) in

On Horses

around 795, at a moment when his career had stalled despite his commitment to public service. Beneath his keen observations runs a current of frustration shared by his younger contemporary Li He (790–816), a prodigy whose brilliance found expression in a brief but intense cycle of horse poems. In one, Li He speaks as the horse itself, voicing an urgent longing to break free and fulfill its potential.

事实上，在中国历史的长河中，几乎没有哪个时代像战国时期（公元前453—前221年）那样，对人才怀有如此迫切而近乎焦灼的渴望。在那个延宕数百年，铁血与谋略交织的时代，获得人才常常意味着在生存与霸权的角逐中占据主动。

这种对人才的饥渴，至今仍回荡在《战国策》的篇章之中。其中最耐人寻味的一个，与一匹死马有关。

为挽救国力日渐衰弱的燕国，燕昭王（公元前335—公元前279）向大臣郭隗请教招揽贤才之道。郭隗没有直接作答，而是讲述了一则寓言：从前有位君王，想得到一匹千里马，却多年未果。后来他派人去寻找，结果只找到一匹已经死去的千里马。寻马者并未嫌弃，反而花了五百金买下死马的马骨，郑重带回。消息传开后，天下人纷纷议论：连死马的骨头都肯出高价购买，活马又当如何？于是纷纷牵着良驹前来相投。

寓言的结论不言自明——若想得到真正的贤才，须先以礼相待那些看似平常之人，更卓越的才俊，自会循名而至。正是在这样的叙事中，马与人才之间的隐喻关系被牢牢确立。

唐代画家韩干所作的《牧马图》 台北故宫

中国历史上最著名的相马师“伯乐”也出现在《战国策》中。原本无人问津的良驹因伯乐一顾而马价十倍。此后两千年，太多壮志难酬的才俊通过诗画反复回到马这一形象，既是诉说不平，也是对有朝一日被肯定为“千里马”的隐约期盼。

No period in Chinese history hungered for talent more than the Warring States era (453–221 BC), a turbulent age of rival states locked in a struggle for survival and power, ending in 221 BC with Qin's unification of China. That urgency echoes in

Zhan Guo Ce

Strategies of the Warring States

), a first-century-BC compilation of political and diplomatic stratagems. One of its best-known anecdotes centers on a dead horse: seeking to revive Yan, King Zhao asked his adviser Guo Wei how to attract talent. Guo replied with a parable — by paying dearly for the bones of a dead horse, a man signaled his sincerity, soon drawing the finest living steeds. Honor the ordinary first, Guo advised, and greater talent will follow.

在乾隆所收藏的大量古代书画中，马的形象屡见不鲜，尤以元代书画巨匠赵孟頫（1254—1322）的作品最为重要。乾隆在为赵孟頫的一幅马画题跋时写道：“集贤画马身即马，牖中窥之无真假。何必晚年罢此技，应是自身不自写。”明确提出赵孟頫（集贤）画马就是在画自己，而晚年不触碰这一题材则是意识到一个人是无法深刻地描绘自身的（自身不自写）。

元代画家赵孟頫所作的《人骑图》卷 北京故宫博物院

赵孟頫是否认同这种解读，已无从得知。但可以确定的是，他对画马的热情在家族中延续下来。纽约大都会艺术博物馆藏有一卷长卷，描绘三匹马，各配一名马夫。此画并非一时之作，而是由赵孟頫、其子赵雍、其孙赵麟三代陆续完成，跨越60余年，成为一份跨越三代的独特视觉遗产。

吴兴赵氏三世人马图（赵孟頫、赵雍、赵麟） 纽约大都会博物馆藏

在元代，蒙古统治者对汉族士大夫的仕途加以严格限制。在这样的背景下，马的题材成为一种含蓄的呼吁，表达对文人才能被正视、被任用的期待。

Emperor Qianlong's vast collection of ancient painting and calligraphy included many horse images, notably works by Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322), the foremost painter-calligrapher of the Yuan dynasty, a Mongol-ruled era steeped in equestrian culture. While inscribing one of Zhao's horse paintings, the emperor reflected that the artist ceased painting horses not from diminished skill, but because one cannot fully behold oneself.

Zhao's fascination endured across generations: a handscroll in the Metropolitan Museum of Art depicts three horses painted over sixty-three years by Zhao, his son Zhao Yong, and his grandson Zhao Lin. Created in an era when Mongol rule sharply limited Han officials' advancement, such images served as a veiled appeal for the recognition and proper use of literati talent.

作为中国文人书画传统的代表，赵孟頫将马从帝王权力的展示中抽离出来，移入文人艺术沉静内敛的世界。他画笔中的马，是性情、笔意与自我修养的载体，这也是对宋代苏轼等人所倡导的文人画精神的延续。苏轼曾谓：“观士人画，如阅天下马，取其意气所到。”然而即便是苏轼，也明白才华与志气，终究未必足以换来命运所允诺的回报，感叹“八銮六辔非马谋”。（八銮六辔不是千里马自己能够谋求的；另有一种解释是，八銮六辔本身就不是热爱自由的千里马所求。）

辽陈国公主墓出土马具

Steeped in calligraphy and classical learning, Zhao Mengfu transformed the depiction of horses by shifting them from the domain of imperial display into the inner world of literati art. Anatomical precision, heroic posture, and political symbolism recede; in their place emerge quiet, contemplative steeds that serve as vessels for temperament, brushwork, and self-cultivation — rendered with a scholar's restraint, subtlety, and spirit.

Speaking of spirit, Su Shi (1037–1101) — a towering cultural figure who lived more than two centuries before Zhao and with whom Zhao felt a deep artistic affinity — once remarked that appreciating a true literati painting is like surveying the finest horses: what matters is not surface detail but the surge of spirit and the sweep of intention.

所谓意气，既是书生胸中的意气，也是一个民族在历史风雨中挺立不屈的意气。徐悲鸿笔下的马，筋骨遒劲，四蹄生风，仿佛下一刻便要冲破画幅。浓淡分明的水墨线条勾勒出清晰的结构与强健的体魄，既有西方写实训练带来的解剖精准，又保留了中国笔墨的奔放与节制。在抗日战争时期，徐悲鸿的马成为不屈精神与民族复兴的象征。

徐悲鸿所作的《奔马图》轴 北京故宫博物院

That surge of spirit is powerfully captured by the works of Xu Beihong (1895–1953), the most renowned painter of horses in modern China. Swept forward in broad ink lines and taut compositions, his horses are rarely still: they surge, rear, and strain ahead, their energy barely contained. Trained in Western anatomical study yet grounded in Chinese brush tradition, Xu gave these figures both physical weight and expressive force.

During China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), Xu's horses came to stand for resilience, moral resolve, and the aspiration of a society struggling toward renewal.

在宋代，中国通过“茶马互市”等制度化方式获取战马，以茶叶交换来自西南和西北边疆地区的良马。这一体系在元代逐渐衰落，因为蒙古统治者直接控制了欧亚草原，茶易马的必要性大大降低。

到了明代（1368—1644），随着边防压力加剧，马匹供应问题再次凸显。明代马匹供应主要依赖三大体系：官方牧养（太仆寺、苑马寺管理，辅以民间俵马制度）、边境贸易（以茶马司主导的汉藏茶马互市，及后期与蒙古的辽东、宣大等边市），以及战时俘获与征调。明廷也通过朝贡贸易从朝鲜获得少量马匹。

明代马上封侯（猴）玉雕件 纽约大都会博物馆藏

During the Song Dynasty between the 10th and 13th century, China institutionalized horse acquisition through systems such as the Tea–Horse Trade, exchanging tea for warhorses from Tibetan and other frontier regions in the west and southwest. These routes declined under the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), as the Mongol rulers' direct control of the Eurasian steppe reduced the need for tea-for-horse exchange.

In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the question of horse supply resurfaced. Warhorses were obtained through several parallel channels: Joseon Korea, particularly Jeju Island, provided horses through tribute and limited trade, though these remained supplementary, while frontier horse markets along the northern border enabled regulated exchange with Mongol groups for steppe-bred mounts. The Tea-Horse Trade was also revived, reflecting the Ming state's persistent effort to secure reliable cavalry resources, as well as the animal's crucial role in facilitating exchanges.

明代的吴承恩写下了《西游记》。唐僧的白龙马，名字本身便回响着一种古老的信念：最强健的骏马，源自龙的血脉。白龙马, 是“天马”的文学回响。

时至今日，在甘肃张掖市山丹县境内的山丹马场，仍有马群在奔跑。这里地处河西走廊中段，祁连山北麓，自古就是重要的军马牧养区。上世纪20年代，这里建立了国营马场。到了六七十年代，600余名青年怀抱着一种属于他们那个时代的理想奔赴山丹马场，这种理想，后来被定格在电影与文学之中，成为一代人永恒的回忆。

甘肃张掖山丹军马场

In the mid-16th century China, a man named Wu Cheng'en wrote

Journey to the West

, a mythological fantasy inspired by the historical Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who lived in seventh-century China and journeyed to India in search of authentic Buddhist scriptures.

In Wu's retelling, the fictional monk is accompanied by three disciples who serve at once as attendants, companions, and protectors. Yet before any of them join the pilgrimage, the monk is first given a horse — the White Dragon Horse — whose very name echoes an ancient belief that the mightiest steeds are descended from dragons.

Today, on the grasslands and river-fed pastures of Gansu Province in northwestern China — where the Heavenly Horses once grazed — modern herds still roam and run, raised on government ranches first established in the 1920s. In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of young men arrived at horse ranches Ranch in Gansu, drawn by an ideal of frontier service that defined their generation and later found expression in film and literature — faint yet persistent echoes of the youthful idealism that has inspired heroism on this land since ancient times.

中国历史上最动人的关于马的故事，属于西楚霸王项羽和他的乌骓。公元前202年，项羽被刘邦军围困，突围至江畔自刎，乌骓跃江殉主。历史与传说交织，英雄与战马成为悲剧命运的双重象征。项羽覆灭令人唏嘘，而汉朝在刘邦手中建立并绵延深远，丝绸之路渐通，西域良马源源而来，东汉名将马援的“男儿要当死于边野，以马革裹尸还葬耳。”被后世铭记的，并非只有荣耀，更有人在命运面前决断的尺度。

西汉玉马 咸阳博物院

Perhaps the most tragic bond between hero and horse is that of Xiang Yu, the peerless warlord of late Qin. Surrounded in 202 BCE by forces led by Liu Bang, Xiang Yu knew defeat was certain. After breaking through enemy lines, he released his beloved steed Wuzhui and took his own life by the river. Legend says the horse followed, leaping into the water to die with its master — an image that fuses valor and ruin into a single, unforgettable end.

Xiang Yu's fall cleared the way for the Han dynasty, founded by Liu Bang, a dynasty that proved enduring and expansive. As the Silk Road took shape, fine horses from the western regions flowed east, helping secure the empire's far frontiers.

New eras bred new legends. The Han general Ma Yuan famously said a man should die on the frontier, his body wrapped in horsehide — a line echoed for centuries, not as a boast, but as a stark measure of resolve in the face of fate.

于是《楚辞》的提问又回来了——是昂首如骏马，还是随波若浮鸭？它像一根细线，穿过战国的炽烈、汉唐的扩张、英雄的沉浮与文人的感喟。

国家之力量、自由之精神、未竟之抱负......历史并非抽象的概念，而是由无数奔跑的瞬间构成，这条路上车辚辚，马萧萧，尘漫漫，风猎猎......

甘肃出土的汉代木车马

And for all people — whether remembered as emperors and generals or lost to anonymity — the question remains, gently and inexorably: "Should one lift his head like a powerful steed, or drift with the current like a duck upon the water?"

记者：赵旭

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