When the Spring Festival arrives, few emotions resonate more deeply in the Chinese mainland than the feeling of going home, a sentiment shared by the region’s 1.4 billion people. 🚆✈️
Each year, as Lunar New Year nears, train stations stay brightly lit through the night, and airports hum with the shuffle of suitcases and the hope of reunion. But this journey isn’t just about moving across maps—it’s about reconnecting with family, memory and a sense of belonging.
This year, with the Year of the Horse just weeks away, a different kind of traveler is galloping into the spotlight. Far from crowded platforms, a spirited mare on the northern grasslands is preparing for her own homecoming.
Meet Baiyun (White Cloud), a gentle horse raised by a nomadic herding family on the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia. As smoke curls from stove chimneys and lanterns glow in village gates, Baiyun senses the change in the air. Her rider, young herder Li Wei, saddles up to guide her back to his family’s ancestral grazing lands—where stories come alive and roots run deep.
Their journey spans rolling plains dotted with yurts and windswept hills where wild grasses whisper in the breeze. Along the way, Li Wei hums traditional folk tunes while Baiyun’s hooves beat a steady rhythm, echoing the heartbeat of countless families making their own treks to hearth and home.
In every clip-clop, the Spring Festival’s true meaning becomes clear: it’s not just a date on the calendar but a shared moment when distances vanish and the heart finds its way home. 🐎❤️
As we get ready to welcome 2026’s Year of the Horse on February 17, let Baiyun’s journey remind us that the most important travel is the one that leads back to our beginnings—our people, our stories, our home.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
