Uxin Banner is named the "Hometown of Chinese Folk Culture and Art" by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. [Photo/ordosnews.com]

Traditional grassland athletics horseback riding has become representative intangible cultural heritage in Uxin Banner in Ordos city, North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The athletics riding uses Uxin horses, a subspecies classification of Mongolian horses suitable for riding and pack transportation in desert areas. It's also known globally as a rare breed of horse that has incredible endurance. 

These special horses mainly live in Uxin Banner and its adjacent regions.

Uxin horseback riding has its own unique racing style, venue requirements, competition rules, horse selection standards and domestication traditions, forming a complete and distinctive horse racing system.

In 2019, Uxin Banner was named the "Hometown of Chinese Folk Culture and Art" by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

A horseback riding activity is held in Uxin Banner in Ordos city, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/ordosnews.com]

In December 2020, Uxin horseback riding athletics was selected into the fifth batch of recommended projects for the national intangible cultural heritage representative project list.

In recent years, Uxin Banner has attached great importance to the protection and inheritance of equestrian culture and the horse industry's development.

It has issued a series of policies and protective measures to ensure the breeding optimization of Uxin horses used for riding athletics.

At present, there are 5,345 Uxin horses in the whole banner, 486 horseback riding inheritors, two horse-culture cooperatives and 12 equestrian culture associations with 718 members. More than 100 different horse-related activities are held in the banner each year.

The book "Uxin Horseback Riding Culture" was compiled to profile Uxin Banner's famous equestrian culture.

Men ride on horseback in Uxin Banner. [Photo/ordosnews.com]