It’s a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, where two stallions fight over a female to ring the Chinese new year. And when it’s the Year of the Horse, the fights are considered to be even more significant. They’re held in small villages across southern China and have been condemned by animal rights groups, including Hong-Kong based Animals Asia. But those who participate in the events defend the fights and insist they take care of the animals.

Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

Child models present creations at Dong Wenmei T100 Children's Collection during China Fashion Week in Beijing October 29, 2014. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Located in Kunshan, eastern China, the restaurant relies on over a dozen machines for tasks such as greeting customers, waiting on tables and cooking basic meals. The eatery becomes the third café in the world to rely on the use of robot employees, potentially giving a glimpse into how future businesses could operate. Photo: This photo taken on August 13, 2014, shows a robot carrying food to customers in a restaurant in Kunshan. It's more teatime than Terminator – a restaurant in China is electrifying customers by using more than a dozen robots to cook and deliver food. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP Photo)

Chinese women ride a bicycle together on a street September 10, 2014 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A Chinese girl peeps at Santa at a shopping center on Christmas Eve December 24, 2011 in Beijing, China. Though Christmas is not officially celebrated in China, the holiday is becoming increasingly popular as Chinese adopt more Western ideas and festivals. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

This photo taken on November 4, 2019 shows people taking part in a fish catching competition in a paddy field in Leishan county in China's southwestern Guizhou province, to celebrate the new year festival Miao people. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Tourists are watching the sunrise from a viewing platform on the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, China, on June 23, 2024. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)