1964 – the Chinese year of the dragon – saw the establishment of Sino-French diplomatic relations. 2014 marked the 50^th anniversary of the Sino-French diplomatic relations, and coincided with the year of the horse.

On January 1, 2014, on the eve of the lunar calendar’s year of the horse, President Xi Jinping extended his new year’s greetings to people of all ethnic groups throughout the nation as well as the Chinese people all over the world, expressing his wish for ‘people all over the country to carry forward the unremitting Long Ma spirit in the year of the horse.”

This prompted Winland Group to collaborate with French artists in the creation of a large-scale mechanical art installation, which goes by the name of Long Ma, to promote the zeitgeist in an artistic way.

On March 26, 2014, Xi Jinping visited France and met with the then President Hollande and prime minister Ayrault, as well as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, using the Long Ma design sketches as a welcoming gift for President Xi Jinping while the latter was on his state visit to France, as well as to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sino-French relations.

The large-scale mechanical art installation Long Ma was completed on August 26^th, 2014 under the auspices of the Presidents of both countries, having been produced by over 100 collaborative artists and engineers. During its creation, the former Chinese ambassador to France Di Jun, undertook a special fact-finding visit to Nantes, where the installation was manufactured, during which he expressed his sympathy to this cause.

Long Ma copyrights and property right are owned by Winland Group. Its tours and parade performances are all non-profit.