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)

Chinese hostesses, who serve the delegates of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and National People's Congress, have souvenir photos taken in front of the Great Hall of the People during sessions of the CPPCC and NPC held in Beijing, China Tuesday, March 4, 2014. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

A man wearing a mask and dressed in a clown costume rides an electric tricycle while carrying a container in the shape of a rubber duck amid heavy smog in Beijing, China, December 29, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

A view of fluffy toy bears displayed for attraction outside the windows of a hotel in Yantai in Shandong province Thursday, January 6, 2022. (Photo by Tang Ke/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

A woman plays with a kitten inside of a line house in downtown Shanghai April 12, 2015. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Contestants of a tourism beauty pageant balance eggs on their collarbones as they cruise along the Yellow River in Jiyuan, Henan province, China, June 22, 2015. The contestants believe that if they are slim enough, their collarbones will allow them to balance the eggs securely on their bodies. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A Tibetan man stands nearby as a young tourist poses for photos on a white yak at the shore of the lake in Namtso in western China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, as seen during a government organized visit for foreign journalists, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)