Qianlima
TheChollima Statue inPyongyang
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	千里馬
Simplified Chinese	千里马
Literal meaning	thousandli horse
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin qiānlǐmǎ Wade–Giles chʻien1-li3-ma3 IPA [tɕʰjɛ́nlǐmà]
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	thiên lý mã
Hán-Nôm	千里馬
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	천리마
Hancha	千里馬
Transcriptions Revised Romanization cheollima McCune–Reischauer ch'ŏllima
Japanese name
Kanji	千里馬
Kana	せんりま チョンリマ
Transcriptions Romanization senrima chonrima

Theqianlima ([tɕʰjɛ́nlǐmà]; alsochollima orcheollima in Korean, andsenrima in Japanese;lit. 'thousand-li horse') is a mythicalhorse that originates from theChinese classics and is commonly portrayed in East Asian mythology. Thewinged horse is said to be too swift and elegant to be mounted by any mortal man and is named after its ability to travel one thousandli in a single day.

Since the 3rd century BCE, the qianlima was used as a metaphor for exceptionally talented people and animals, such asRed Hare. The chollima is an important symbol inNorth Korea and is the namesake of theChollima Movement.

Beginning around the 3rd century BCE,Chinese classics mentionBole, a mythological horse-tamer, as anexemplar of horse judging. Bole is frequently associated with the fabledqianlima (=千里馬; "thousand-li horse"), which was supposedly able to gallop one thousandli (approximately 400 km) in a single day (e.g.Red Hare,sweats blood horse). Qianlima was aliterary Chinese word for people with latent talent and ability; and Spring suggests, "For centuries of Chinese history, horses had been considered animals capable of performing feats requiring exceptional strength and endurance.^[1]: 80 Possibly it is for this reason that from early times horses have been used allegorically to represent extraordinary people." Bole recognizing a qianlima was a metaphor for a wise ruler selecting talented shi "scholar-officials". Thus, "Geniuses in obscurity were called thousand li horses who had not yet met their [Bole]".^[2]

Keitoku Senrima (Kim Ge-dok), a professionalmiddleweight boxer in Japan, uses thestage name "Senrima" (the Japanese form of Qianlima/Chollima) to reference North Korea's Chollima campaigns and thereby express hisZainichi Korean heritage.^[3]

Thechollima is an important national symbol ofNorth Korea. It is used as the nickname ofits national association football team and also as the name ofa rocket.^[4][5] The state also gave the name to theChollima Movement, which promoted fast economic development, modeled the ChineseGreat Leap Forward.^[6] After theKorean War, the country required rebuilding to function again. In order to expedite the construction,Kim Il Sung devised the slogan "rush at the speed of chollima".^[7] TheNorth Korean film industry is sometimes referred to as "Chollywood", a portmanteau of "chollima" and "Hollywood".^[8] InPyongyang, the 46-meter-tallChollima Statue stands next to theMansu Hill Grand Monument.^[9]

• Horse in Chinese mythology
• Buraq
• Longma
• Pegasus
• Tianma
• Tulpar

• Chinese legendary creatures
• East Asian mythology
• Korean legendary creatures
• Mythological horses
• Winged horses
• Horses in Chinese mythology

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Chinese-language text
• Articles containing Vietnamese-language text
• Articles containing Korean-language text
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