Soft-clay cultural item "Ma Biaobiao" featuring various hairstyles Photos on this page: Screenshot from the official Wechat account of Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism

With the Chinese New Year of the Horse rapidly drawing near, horse-themed cultural and creative products have come into the spotlight. Recently, a soft-clay cultural item from the Shandong Art Museum in Jinan, Shandong - a small horse named "Ma Biaobiao," inspired by the work of a renowned Chinese artist - has gone viral on Chinese social media, state broadcaster CCTV News reported.

The most striking feature of this little horse is its "flowing, unruly, and highly expressive" hairstyle, which conveys a distinctive charm that feels "messy yet free." As a result, Chinese netizens affectionately refer to it as the "messy little horse."

At the heart of its appeal is its high level of interactivity. There is no standard answer when it comes to the hairstyle - twin ponytails, blunt bangs, braided plaits, every owner can become its "chief hairstylist," freely shaping the look according to their own aesthetic preferences and enjoying hands-on creative play, the report said.

At first glance, the black-and-white horse body appears rather plain. Its small, round eyes give off an air of innocent adorableness. Paired with the wildly windblown, messy mane, it feels less refined and more delightfully unrestricted. As one netizen put it, "This is the kind of cultural product that's worth spending money on," according to the official WeChat account of Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.

After going viral, the world of "Ma Biaobiao" has continued to expand. It is no longer limited to its original black-and-white version. Red, green, yellow, pink, blue - new color variations have appeared one after another. At the same time, it has taken on more playful identities and character designs, continuing to delivering fresh surprises to consumers, CCTV said.

"Ma Biaobiao" is inspired a work of Chinese painter Qi Baishi (1864-1957). With just a few brushstrokes, Qi depicted a horse in motion: its form naive yet vivid, brimming with spirit, and conveying a strong sense of power and speed, said CCTV.

Global Times