Past Political, Climatic Changes Challenged Chinese Horses
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When the political scene gets rough, society can suffer. When the climate gets rough, populations can suffer. When both politics and climate become simultaneously unfavorable, though, they can wreak havoc on essentially everyone—including horses.

Recent historical analysis of combined political and climatic challenges in 20th century China shows that the duo is devastating for horses and other livestock. And history could repeat itself, said Ang Li, PhD, researcher in the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany, in Beijing.

“The environmental history of modern China is very important for our future,” Li said. “We wanted to apply this knowledge in favor of the public and the nation.”

Li said Inner Mongolia became an area of extreme political unrest in the 1960s and 1970s. Nestled between greater China and the communist Soviet Union, it endured the tense struggles of socialist revolution. This led to four main subperiods of social movement: the socialist education movement period (1964–1965), the most chaotic anarchy period (1966–1969), the military controlling period (1970–1976), and the standstill period (1977–1978)

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