A nearly 11-metre-tall dragon-horse installation has been unveiled in Guangzhou, southern China, adding to the city’s growing Lunar New Year decorations. The sculpture combines a horse’s body with dragon horns and a pair of outstretched wings. Its surface is covered with some 12,000 sheets of 24-karat gold leaf and set with 168 decorative “scales,” giving the work a glittering, celebratory presence.

The piece draws on the ancient Chinese myth of the dragon-horse, an auspicious creature that blends dragon power with equine vigor. In the region’s Cantonese cultural tradition, the “dragon-horse spirit” evokes courage, freedom, and upward momentum—qualities the work is meant to embody as a New Year blessing.

Placed on a busy commercial boulevard, the installation functions as both public art and a seasonal symbol: a photo magnet for shoppers and a visual wish for prosperity and smooth fortune offered to visitors during the holiday period.