China Daily (Hong Kong)

Cat celebritie­s are rising on the internet

- Jon Lowe Contact the writer at jon.lowe@chinadaily­hk.com

If there’s one thing the internet has done, it’s to prove that cats are the most popular creatures among humans. This is important, because pre-internet it was generally held that dogs were the best, with people saying they were “man’s best friend”. This may still hold true, but the amount of internet traffic devoted to cats shows that if they are not our best friends exactly, they are our best obsession.

The rise of cat celebritie­s is proof of this. Cats such as Grumpy Cat, Confused Cat and Hitler Cat have all made headlines in the past 10 years. Hong Kong got in on the action with “Tsim Tung

This Day, That Year

ItemfromJu­ly26,1999,in ChinaDaily:Awomanputs­a bagoflitte­rintoabina­ta categorize­dgabargeco­llectionce­nterinhern­eighborhoo­dinShenzhe­n, Guangdongp­rovince.

Inrecentye­ars,thecity haspromote­dthegarbag­e classifica­tionsystem­and builtmanys­uchcenters­in aneffortto­protectthe­environmen­t.

Although garbage classifica­tion is not a new concept to most Chinese, in many cities it is a failure due to a lack of supervisio­n and low pub- Brother Cream”, a convenienc­e store cat in Tsim Sha Tsui who has 110,000 followers and attracted crowds of tearful well-wishers when the store was recently forced to close due to exorbitant rent.

So what is it that endears cats to people so much? It is surely not mutual love. Unlike dogs, cats do not play the game of pleasing their owners — except inasmuch as pleasing themselves happens to please their human caregivers.

My own theory is that, beyond being generally nice to stroke and calming influences, we secretly thrill to domestic cats as basically being little lions or tigers or leopards. With the domestic cat we can observe the ferocity, the cold ruthlessne­ss of the most feared predators in man’s primal memory, but in a manageable way that lic awareness.

In 2000, eight cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, became the first batch of cities to pilot waste sorting schemes.

Last year, Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, Shanghai and Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, introduced local regulation­s that promised to fine rule-breakers up to 200 yuan ($30).

Last year, Chinese households produced 250 million metric tons of waste, of which just 80 million tons was recycled, according to entertains but does not directly threaten us.

This is similar to the way ancient Romans reminded themselves of the wild world beyond Roman civilizati­on by representi­ng it in their amphitheat­ers with gladiatori­al combat — often featuring lions and tigers, coincident­ally — at the same time as reassuring themselves of their mastery over that world.

For as all cat owners know, a cat patrols, it prowls and it needs to be king of its territory. Cat owners know that the cat will show its allegiance to its human owner by bringing gifts culled from its wild realm. I have seen even ardent vegetarian­s play the game of gratitude when their cat brings them such an offering in the form of a dead vole or mouse.

Cats are promoted by pet sellers and even charities as the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Developmen­t. The volume of waste is expected to grow at between 7 and 10 percent annually in large cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai. ideal city pets, but there is a worrying aspect to this. If they live in small urban flats such as in Hong Kong they will generally have no access to the outside, since people often do not let their cats out in cities because they are worried they get lost or run over. While a domestic cat will generally sleep up to 18 hours and so is quite happy to lounge about all day, one important part of their life should be nocturnal wandering. The area covered by this varies from cat to cat — some barely cover the garden while others go wandering about the whole neighborho­od.

Given that it is presently impossible to afford a cat its nightly walk on the wild side, I do not own one — or vice versa.

advertisin­g company employee in Chongqing

“Lack of safety awareness is the main reason for this incident. The government should force parks to follow strict safety rules.”

In the country’s 13th FiveYear Plan (2016-20), authoritie­s emphasized the need to improve the recycling program. The plan also calls for boosting the waste classifica­tion system.

internatio­nal trade company employee in Zhengzhou, Henan province

“Safety training before entering the park is necessary now.”

civil servant in Beijing

 ?? LI ZIYUN / FOR CHINA DAILY ??
LI ZIYUN / FOR CHINA DAILY
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