Chinese Boss and Secretary Ride Horses to Work

A wealthy Chinese business owner commutes to work with his secretary on horseback.

From QQ:

Shanxi boss and female secretary riding horses to work becomes famous on the internet

Recently, a set of photos and video called “Boss and female secretary ride to work on horses” has become famous on the internet. The man in yellow in the photos is the boss of a private company in Xianyang, and the woman next to him is his secretary. Old He [the boss] has many nearly cars that cost nearly 1 million [RMB] each at home, but being unable to put up with the traffic of going to and from work every day, Old He decided he would switch to riding a horse to commute to and from work, and apart from special situations has over the past two years done so regardless of the weather.

A wealthy Shanxi boss rides a horse to work with his female secretary.

Old He says that the neighborhood he lives in is about 7-8km away from work and it normally takes 20 minutes to drive, whereas riding a horse can also get him to work in 20+ minutes but is more environmentally friendly and low-carbon.

In Shanxi, China, a passerby riding a motor scooter is surprised by a man riding a horse on the public road.

Old He says what he enjoys the most are the surprised looks of passersby when he is horseback riding.

Old He is a wealthy business owner in Shanxi, China who rides a horse to work everyday to avoid traffic.

The name of the horse he is currently riding is “Wu Zhui”, which he purchased for over 80,000 yuan, and pays Keeping a horse costs 50-60 thousand yuan each year, and he places the horse in a stable after arriving at the factory plant. Over the past two plus years, he has often rode his horse to work, and has gotten used to the feeling of riding a horse to go out, becoming uncomfortable all over if he does not ride a horse at least once a day.

A wealthy Chinese businessman and his secretary riding horses to work.

As for the question of whether or not horses can go on public roads, Old He says that he has already inquired about relevant regulations and discovered that so far there are no relevant rules and regulations restricting horses going on public roads, and as a result him riding his horse to commute to work is not illegal.

A rich Chinese boss riding horseback to work with his secretary.

Regarding this question, this reporter made an inquiry at the Xi’an Municipal Public Security Bureau Traffic Enforcement Beilin Division Deputy Chief Fei Tao, and Fei Tao said that in the “Road and Traffic Safety Regulations of the People’s Republic of China”, Article 73 has regulations pertaining to animal-powered vehicles but does not have any regulations pertaining specifically to horseback riding.

A news report:

In the above video, the boss Old He says he rather enjoys the looks he gets, which are a mix of envy, surprise, and disbelief. He also says a horse is cheaper than a car, that a very good horse can be purchased for about 20,000 RMB, with 4000-5000 RMB per year being enough for upkeep costs. Old He lists five additional advantages: No traffic, no traffic lights, no need to get gas, no annual inspection, and no traffic tickets.

Comments from QQ:

腾讯湛江市网友 狮子:

Good…I support this… This is a real baoma [Chinese name for BMW but literally means "precious horse"]… The Machine Age will soon end… [it is] too polluting of the environment…

腾讯乌鲁木齐市网友 假若明天来临:

Riding every day, this is simply about showing off. If it is traffic, then ride a bicycle! No exhaust or feces, and what more, I’m willing to bed that in the city, it’s much faster than a horse.

腾讯绍兴市网友 冷雨:

The female secretary and the boss on the road, always together.

腾讯泸州市网友 纠结:

Always saying this or that has become famous, if its that easy to become famous then tomorrow I’m going to go to work on stilts! Fuck!

腾讯上海市网友 寻找→¥¥¥:

And the horse shit, who sweeps that up? Is it still environmentally friendly?

腾讯网友 LED=巴鲁斯=何:

[I] support riding horses, it’s environmentally friendly. Wasting your own time driving is one thing, but the key is that you’re also wasting other people’s time, and it pollutes the air!!

腾讯网友 镜猪猪【:

Yet another publicity stunt! So stupid!

腾讯网友 乱林独舞蝶:

Who is that girl? There must be someone who recognizes her, is she really his secretary? Why doesn’t the boss buy a horse for his wife, but buys one for her?

上海市 超超:

I don’t have any cars in my house, but I do have some pigs, so can I ride my pigs to work?

腾讯网友 墨↗″子笨:

Fuck! Now just riding a horse can make you famous, and environmentally friendly? Why not just walk, wouldn’t that be even more environmentally friendly!? First this boss, then that boss, all people with money and nothing better to do than to find things to whittle away their time. I really don’t know what people are thinking these days if even this can make someone famous! I bet us insignificant city residents can ride Superman and not become famous!

腾讯网友 紫色爱情蝶:

[He] spent over 80 thousand yuan to buy it and must spend 50-60 thousand yuan each year to keep it. Us poor people can’t afford to ride horses.

腾讯网友 Μ□δουσ:

Riding a horse to work, boss, how about donating your luxury cars to Project Hope since you don’t use them anyway.

腾讯网友 紫色爱情蝶:

Look at those rich people, cars are no longer worth showing off! Private planes are no longer worth showing off! What’s fashionable now is horseback riding, and bringing your secretary along with you!

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  • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

    :Limosine rolls up to Shanxi boss and “secretary”:

    “Ah! Good sir! Might you have some Grey Poupon upon your person?”

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      “Yeah, I LOVE the environment, it’s like my most favorite thing in the world. I love being able to buy a new horse every couple of months when my old one drops deadfrom breathing in rush hour traffic smog while suffering shattered knees doing a full gallop on ashalt.

      Where’s a tree? Gimmie one; I want to hug it and then maximize its capabilites as a renewable exploitable resource.”

      • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

        “Yes, the secretary position we have availible is challenging yet rewarding; you are expected to accompany the Xianxi boss everywhere he goes including his home and commute with him daily.”

        “I have but one question: do I get to ride a horse?”

        • Nathan

          This was part of a nationwide publicity act in order to get people thinking about more eco-friendly methods of transport. Not quite the show of wealth that this article seems to suggest.

          http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-06/08/content_12655113.htm

          • Nathan

            I didnt mean to respond to you terroir, this was supposed to be a new post.

          • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

            Well, you got my attention now, Nathan, so now what do we do?

            [silence]

            [still silence]

            [silence still]

            [and yet more silence]

            [silence until...]

            So… you see any good movies lately?

          • Jones

            You guys gonna fight?

          • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

            @Jones:
            if only all conflict could be resolved by the eerie awkwardness that predates them. Just think, Zach Gaffalinakis would be the high UN ambassador of peace.

    • Chris N.

      Welcome everyone to the terroir show, starring terroir.

  • Rawlie

    Who cares? The bloke is just showing off his wealth. Tacky.

    • Rick in China

      Um…riding a horse that costs less than a shitty used car is not showing off one’s wealth. I’m surprised how cheap horses are in China.

      • Nathan

        Did you ever see the equestrian events at the Olympics? The horses were not allowed in and so the riders were forced to use Chinese horses. As a country boy myself, it doesnt take much to realise breeding is everything when it comes to horses.

        I wouldnt pay a Irish gypo 9 pence for one of those horses.

        • Captain China

          From what I have been told, Chinese horses are actually pretty golden, because they are bred from Mongolian stock.

          • Nathan

            youtube it!

            (comment was a bit short….)

          • baoma

            It depends on what you want to use the horse for. If you want to commute long distances, sure, I can see that. But if you want a fancy show jumping horse or dressage horse (disciplines in the Olympics), Chinese horses are NOT bred or cut out for it.

        • http://www.ethansenglishcafe.com Ethan

          Thoguht they just moved the event to Hong Kong to get around that issue.

          • Nathan

            yeah it was in HK… and watch the youtube… and your point is?

  • The Other Guy

    No mention is made of why the secretary needs to ride with the boss to and from work. I can only imagine that both are sleeping under the same roof and therefore share the same route.

    • Ray

      Secretaries had always accompanied the boss for as much as they can right? The secretary would normally accompany the driver to pick up the boss and on the way to work he/she will inform the boss of what is ahead of them for the day/week/month/year. So he obviously wanted to ride a horse but didn’t want his secretary to walk the whole way to work so they must ride together.

      Although it must be real interesting seeing a female secretary riding on a horseback with a PDA in her hand and just acting completely professional.

      • The Other Guy

        And if he just so happened to need to go back to his house and strip naked in his bedroom, she’d be obligated to follow.
        I like, I like.

        • Tengu

          Riding crop in hand….I hope, I hope, I hope…

  • The Other Guy

    Next Chinasmack article:
    Rising oil prices cause panic-buying of horses.

  • Justin

    Don’t horses produce methane in their farts? Or is that just cows?
    Doesn’t seem so environmentally friendly to me. Why not just ride a fucking bike? I’m guessing that’s because a bike isn’t a form of conspicuous consumption even if you buy a $5,000 Trek Road Bike, the other rich people will still think you are a peasant.

    My modest proposal for improving China’s traffic/environmental problems is for Louis Vuitton to get into the bike business and start building golden, diamond encrusted bicycles that cost 500,000 RMB a pop. Then you’ll see a lot more CEOs biking to work.

    • Ray

      Why does everyone instantly think hes going full on pro with the environment? Ofcourse there are alot of things he can do to help the environment and other various non-realistic suggestions you can say “Why don’t he just build dorms so his whole company lives together? Why doesn’t he just walk to work while pulling extra 10 cars to help with emission?”. The points for him are: He doesn’t like to get stuck in traffic (if it takes roughly the same amount of time to get somewhere, I would prefer a constant speed rather than start and stop and start and stop). Another point is he still wants to get “driven” there (so none of that shit about biking or walking or running or swimming, “Why ride a horse to work when u can just ride a bike?” <- There are just fundamental difference between riding a horse and a bike….)

      Finally, its not like hes trying to propose anything or improve the flow of society, hes just doing what he prefers. If what the post suggests is true, this is also not a publicity stunt unless he had been planning this for 2 years…

      • Justin

        For one, the article explicitly says he is doing it for environmental reasons.

        “Old He says that the neighborhood he lives in is about 7-8km away from work and it normally takes 20 minutes to drive, whereas riding a horse can also get him to work in 20+ minutes but is more environmentally friendly and low-carbon.”

        I mean maybe he enjoys it, but a bike is just as enjoyable and equally as fast. I hate to break it to you Ray, but bicycling to work isn’t so unrealistic, even for an executive. People in America, especially in New York City and San Francisco, do it all the time and in fact some cities offer subsidies for employers to build shower facilities in order to encourage people to commute via bicycle.

        • tengu

          True enough, in the US cities, there is a huge resurgence in bicycle riding and you are right about the subsidies for employers.

          I live in a county in the US that is home to the US Equestrian Team. It costs a small fortune to keep a horse.

          There are “Condominium Stalls” for horses at prime horse farms that can go as high as $250K USD.

          In the US, it is an elite pastime, it’s not a common hobby the upkeep for his horses more than likely has a larger carbon footprint that his car does. Annual upkeep alone in the US per horse is $8K – $10K USD…he has two.

          Non-inclusive if initial investment of horse, tack and appropriate riding apparel.

          A nice Cannondale would get him there in good time and be more exercise.

          • Boris

            Having been knocked off my bike last week by some utter imbecile I can see the benefits of a horse. Pricks are more likely to swerve into someone else while they’re gawping at you. Ideally I’d like to travel to work on a rhinoceros, or perhaps a triceratops.

          • tengu

            I wonder what there upkeep for a triceratops…

            You know they’ll take strip down the Rhino for parts the first time you leave it in your parking space at work.

          • Boris

            A little theft has to be expected in this day and age. As long as they don’t take my horn! ; )

          • Tengu

            You know that horn is the first thing to go. The Yemenis love them for the handles of their jambias!

          • http://baihaifeng.blogspot.com Dr. Jones Jr.

            The horn is considered an aphrodisiac in Chinese medicine. They’ll probably shoot the rhino out from under you in the midst of the intersection to get at it.

            I’d go with the triceratops. Much more conspicuous in terms of spending considering the costs of gene splicing and amber-mummified mosquito extraction.

  • diverdude

    a bit of an indelicate question I know,,,,, but,, what about the poop ?

    seems weird to me.

    Bikes ‘R’ Best !!

    Trek SoHo Deluxe (about 9k rmb tricked out)

    • Ray

      Not sure what he does but mounted police usually just does what pet owners do, scrap and bag.

    • Justin

      He could have a little bag that hangs off the horse’s ass and catches it, but that’s doubtful. And to Ray, I used to work in the 6th street entertainment district in Austin Texas, which was full of mounted police and they just left steaming piles everywhere, so I guess that is not universal, especially in China where babies poo everywhere. Why not horses?

    • http://www.ethansenglishcafe.com Ethan

      That was my question too, surprised the article didn’t mention it. Guessing it is probably just left where it falls.

  • ##BlothaLonely##

    Good choice, laoban.. I meant, good choice for a secretary..

  • bunny99

    If he has a wife she must notice when his horse is parked outside his secretary’s house! “Oh, that was not my horse dear, it must have been someone else’s!”

    “No traffic, no traffic lights, no need to get gas, no annual inspection, and no traffic tickets.”

    I think the horse will get gas often.

  • http://www.tx123.org Justin

    Pssh. He’s not rich until he has one of those Helicopter Horses.

    • fouManChu

      No, chinasmack submitters have already established land-submarine-horses as the ne-plus-ultra of commuting vehicles.

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Of course. Of course! The helicopter horse!
      Everybody loves the helicopter horse!
      From uptown to downtown and around the course
      Everybody loves the helicopter horse!
      Environmentally friendly, getting us back to the source
      Everybody loves the helicopter horse!
      Its grandeur, its majesty, it’s a a tour de force
      Everybody loves the helicopter horse!
      So get the word out, even if its by code of morse
      Propganda never ever took one thing from bad to… worse?

  • staylost

    Good for him!

    1. Trying to be environment conscious.

    2. Doing something different, not interested in being a cookie cutter.

    3. Doing something that is active for transport, a better model of health for new China.

    4. Showing Chinese how to do a good PR ploy. (no sordid sex, no public money wasted, etc.)

    5. His attitude has his horse pissing all over the worthless Young Pioneer program. He actually learns outdoor readiness skills, rather than how to be a snitch.

    He may be a stuck up pompous prick, I don’t know him, y’know. But what he is doing is pretty cool. Anyway, I would prefer this Chinese boss that wants me to get active and ride a horse over the normal one that wants the secretary to ride his….

  • Foreign Devil

    He gets points for being original in China. Of course the most practical solution is a bicycle but his ego is too big to be seen riding a “peasent mobile”

    We have mounted police in TOronto and they leave huge mounds of turds all over the streets. In the pre-car days horse shit everywhere was a major source of pollution in the cities. ALso it’s only a matter of time before this guys horse gets it’s legs broken by an aggressive truck driver texting on his phone.

  • anon

    The popup joke for the Personals @ chinaSMACK is so dirty.

  • Josephus Flavius

    If I were him I would dump the horse and ride the secretary to work!

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Yes. He should ride ride her with a saddle and riding crop.

      We all know that S+M is environmentally-friendly because it runs on human tears.

    • Boris

      I’d quite like to see the horse ride him to work.

  • Irvin

    My horse ate the traffic ticket hahahahahahaha

  • http://www.qq.com/1325279774 Kedafu

    Song of the Article

    Check Yo Self
    -Ice Cube

    wumaodang

    • darkandlovelykissedbythe

      “Apache (Jump on It)” Sugar Hill Gang
      “Jump on It” Kool Moe Dee

  • Jay K.

    need a secretary, actually i seriously am looking for a secretary in my office. the last one just didnt do quality work

  • Alex

    Going to work…LIKE A BOSS

  • hoots

    Implied headline: “Boss Rides Secretary at Work”

  • Jones

    I always wanted a horse to ride around in China. I figured if everyone was going to stare at me anyway, they might as well have a reason to stare. I think that’s kind of the same reason this guy does it: to get attention. Not environmental reasons.

  • eddie9684

    now that is bad ass.

  • MrT

    Horse manure is good for growing the vegtables.

  • http://www.makeyourownpheromones.com Michael Hughes

    This is the real definition of ballin’

  • Judy

    I like it, but there must be an easier way to get your secretary to come to work in tight pants and tall, black boots.

  • baoma

    Galloping and trotting a horse on pavement is terrible. The shock is very hard on the horse and its heart. Not to mention, it is clear the guy can’t ride–he’s bouncing up and down on its back. Poor horse. He’s clearly just showing off. There is no reason for a jumping bat and an English hunt seat saddle (he’s not doing any jumping!) just to commute.

    The mounted police in the US put specialized shoes on the horse to help absorb the shock from the pavement. I really really hope he invested in shoes (provided that there is a farrier in china that even knows what they are). I doubt it though because he didn’t even invest in a proper english bridle to go with his english saddle and half chaps.

  • http://unblockfacebookinchina.info/vpn-in-china Rod

    Nice. A good story to read after that puppy-roasting one.

    Good on him.

    I wonder if he rides his horse to KTV.

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