The Bronze Galloping Horse (Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow) has been collected as the icon of the museum of northwest China's Gansu province. 

"As a statue made 2,000 years ago, it's amazing how it was so carefully balanced. The Bronze Galloping Horse is 34.5 cm high and 41 cm long. It weighs 8 kg, and you can see all the weight is supported by the thin right-rear leg.” said Cheng Lijun, Deputy Researcher of Gansu Provincial Museum.

“Experiments have shown that it could only have been made after finding the exact center of gravity. It’s a representative work of the East Han Dynasty, the apex of bronze craftsmanship." Cheng added.

"The tomb was found by local farmers who were digging air-raid shelters. They took all the cultural relics out of the tomb, which unintentionally damaged the original scene. When archaeologists took up the excavations, they could not identify where these items originally lay. Later, they restored the horsemen and chariots according to historical records," said Jia Jianwei, Curator of the Gansu Provincial Museum.

"A swallow’s tail is forked. But the tail of this bird is not forked. After research, we believe that it’s not a swallow but a falcon. And now archaeologists simply call it the Bronze Galloping Horse, because this is undoubtedly true," Jia noted.

"The horse’s posture, neighing and speed are believed to be perfect symbols of the enterprising and persevering spirits of China. That's why the image has been used widely, home and abroad," added Jia.

The horse was excavated in 1969 in an ancient general’s tomb in Wuwei County, Gansu Province. A total of 231 pieces of bronze items were unearthed from the tomb and moved to the Gansu Provincial Museum in Lanzhou.   

In 2002, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage included the Bronze Galloping Horse in the first list of 64 grade-one cultural relics that are forbidden to be exhibited outside China.