综观中国历史,最早的马是因军事目的而被引进中原地区的。它们主要被用来装备骑兵以抵御来自西北游牧民族的侵犯,因此成为那时候最有价值的贡品之一,而拥有马匹也成了皇亲国戚与士大夫的特权。在早期中国画里,马通常出现在战争或狩猎场景中。早在商朝,马就已经在王室生活中扮演起了重要的角色,这一点有王室墓葬中陪葬的众多 Looking at Chinese history, the earliest horses were introduced into the Central Plains for military purposes. They were mainly used to equip cavalry to resist encroachments from nomadic peoples in the northwest and thus became one of the most valuable tributes of that time, and the possession of horses became the privilege of royal relatives and scholar-officials. In early Chinese paintings, horses usually appear in war or hunting scenes. As early as the Shang dynasty, Ma played an important role in the life of the royal family, many of which were buried in royal tombs