Artist promotes mechanical masterpieces

He said it is the first giant, bionic mechanical art sculpture in China.

Using intelligent control and reasonable logical programming, the horse is operated by four people who make it "walk" using wheels, rear up and move its face like a real horse. It can move as fast as 5 kilometers per hour.

It took Xiao and his team about three years and 15 million yuan ($2.3 million) to make the horse. They won more than 20 patents and made more than 3,000 drawings during planning.

The main body of the horse is a complex steel skeleton with 98 joints. It is powered by a diesel engine, which is also a generator. The fuel directly powers the larger pieces of equipment, including the wheels, while the electricity generated is used to move smaller parts such as the ears and eyes.

The overall shape of the horse emulates that of the tri-colored glazed pottery horses from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Xiao said his educational background and lifelong love of sculpture were the primary drivers of his works, which require the perfect combination of art installation and high-tech mechanical design.

Xiao has shown great interest in structural design since he was a child. His office is stuffed with all kinds of toys from the world of animation, film and television.

Although Xiao was determined to study at a fine arts college, he was admitted to the Dalian University of Technology, majoring in power engineering.

"Four years of studying power engineering didn't stop me from pursuing my dream of art. Instead, it laid a foundation for me to enter the high-tech cultural tourism industry later," he said.

After completing his undergraduate studies, he sought a master's degree in sculpture. In fact, tri-colored glazed pottery, the inspiration for his mechanical horse design, was the subject of his thesis.

In 2005, Xiao established his own company, Dalian Betop Culture Technology. The company, which focuses on the development and operation of high-tech cultural excursion products, has earned a good reputation among domestic theme parks. "The idea of making 'giant creature mechanical instrument art' comes from our continuous efforts to help our clients attract more tourists," Xiao said.

Besides the first mechanical horse in Kaifeng, there's another in Chengdu, Sichuan province, and a mechanical ox is in Zhengzhou, Henan.

Xiao's team is making a bixie, a creature from Chinese mythology which is believed to turn calamities into blessings, for a theme park in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. It will be 13 meters long, 8.8 meters high and weigh 60 tons.

"This is a huge market, but we don't want to sell them like mass-produced commodities. Each one should be unique," he said.

With each weighing dozens of tons, it is not easy to make the sculptures look exquisite. "Fortunately, we're based in Dalian, a port city that boasts the best shipbuilders," Xiao said, adding that they have found a dozen reliable factories for mechanical design, manufacturing and other related business.

In addition to the industrial foundation, Dalian, with beautiful scenery and a comfortable environment, is especially suitable for creative work, he added.

Xiao said he wants to build a theme park full of his mechanical structures depicting cultural elements. "There are so many good inspirations from Chinese mythology," he said.

Xiao also said he dreams of going global. "Maybe one day I can sell a team of 10 giant mechanical camels to a theme park in the Middle East," he said.