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Cat Forum / General Topics / January 2007Minature Chinese Cats
Hi Everyone, A friend of mine went to Beijing, China for several weeks, a year ago. She said that in a large market place, there was a street seller selling kittens for $1 which were genetically modified so that they never grew to be much larger than kitten size. Apparently at the University she worked at, students carried these little cats around with them as pets etc, and they were quite happy. (the kittens, and presumably owners too) This was all part of the Chinese culture to keep things smaller, or something. ANyway, I looked this up on the Internet but didn't find anything about it, apart from known cat sizes which don't grow very big, but they are VERY expensive and look odd. I couldn't find anything on the Chinese cats... So, does anybody know what I'm talking about? >Hi Everyone, > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > >So, does anybody know what I'm talking about? Are you sure your friend is not pulling your leg??? >Students carried these little cats around with them as pets,etc" Are you sure these were not the students lunches? I'm not being a smart a.s about this but the Chinese do not use Cats as pets. They farm them for fur and food.. Unless this is some new University Fad? Ray WebElder I don't "Suffer" from Insanity..I rather enjoy it! CATTS http://members.tripod.com/~thewebster/catts.html Home Page http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/9826/meshead.html >>Hi Everyone, >> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > smart a.s about this but the Chinese do not use Cats as pets. They > farm them for fur and food.. Apparently it was a civet variant that started the recentish SARS epidemic, but I don't think domestic cats are commonly considered valid food. I don't think cats are common pets in Chinese culture (a Chinese friend and a 2 week old kitten did not play well together; forunately I had stocked sufficient bandaids for such an occasion). It's (at least stereotypically) Japanese culture that makes things smaller. pat -- ps: I don't use sigs myself, but I understand that putting "--" by itself in the line above a sig is standard practice (you read the sig of course but when you Reply to it, the newsreader doesn't pick up the sig) >>>Hi Everyone, >>> [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >Apparently it was a civet variant that started the recentish SARS >epidemic, >but I don't think domestic cats are commonly considered valid >food. They are,simply because the Chinese do not considerod Cats as "Domestic" but as a food source. >I don't think cats are common pets in Chinese culture You're right about that. >It's (at least stereotypically) Japanese culture that makes things smaller. > >pat Not only this,but Dwarfism mutations (Munchkins) are looked poorly upon by Europeans and hopefully the U.S. There are alsway downsides to every mutation that cannot be forseen. Ray WebElder I don't "Suffer" from Insanity..I rather enjoy it! CATTS http://members.tripod.com/~thewebster/catts.html Home Page http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/9826/meshead.html >>I don't think cats are common pets in Chinese culture > >You're right about that. Nevertheless in Hong Kong you ALWAYS see images of cats in the sitting position with one paw raised. Does anyone know what that means? >>>I don't think cats are common pets in Chinese culture >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Does anyone know what that means? Yes....It is called the Maneki Neko, or good luck symbol......See: http://www.luckfactory.com/manekineko1.html >>>I don't think cats are common pets in Chinese culture >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Does anyone know what that means? The Maneki Neko is Japanese in origin and is seen throughout Japan but particularly in businesses. It is not really a Chinese "thing," but I do recall seeing Maneki Neko in a few businesses, which were probably Japanese owned or operated. You see them in Hong Kong, mostly for sale and not so much as a good luck symbol, same for Taiwan and Singapore. You see them in any bar in Japan, and I once asked my gracious & beautiful Japanese hostess why the paw was raised. She told me it was beckoning people to come in and spend money. : >Students carried these little cats around with them as pets,etc" : [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] : : Unless this is some new University Fad? Where do these kittens "go"? Into the student's pockets? > This was all part of the Chinese culture to keep things smaller, or > something. ANyway, I looked this up on the Internet but didn't find [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > So, does anybody know what I'm talking about? hoax website called Bonsai Kittens http://www.bonsaikitten.com/ >> This was all part of the Chinese culture to keep things smaller, or >> something. ANyway, I looked this up on the Internet but didn't find [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > http://www.bonsaikitten.com/ Proof of spoof http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/bonsai.asp I guess as a person who had lived in Beijing for 2 years, and Shanghai 2 years may have a better view for what you at talking about. I have many local Beijinese and Shanghaiese friends. And most of them have cat as pet, some have both cats and dogs under the same roof. Although many parts of China is still not well developed and many people still withholding a wrong attitude towards domestic animals, even some places out of the main city will eat cat, dogs, mouse etc is quite luxary. But the many new generation who received higher level of education, whome are also cat and dog lovers, and against using these types of animals as food or luxary food. Cat fur is not used, never seen in Beijing and Shanghai. That will be a false version of Chinese raise cat for fur. The cat which Pretzelz metion, I may check out with some of my friends in Beijing, but I guess that is a lie to tourists. Some just sell sick cats to people, of course they will forever never arrive kitten size, cause they die very soon! But respect to what you mention it is quite close to a "Thailand cat" which my local Beijing friend bought one. But the one she bought is much expensive then what your friend talking about. She paid nearly about 1000RMB (about 125USD) for it. Personally I hope those people who answered to your post who doesn't know Chinese culture very well, please don't try to add your imagination as information. And please respect to other culture cause it is also a kind of self respect. While you are damaging the image of Chinese, you are just showing how uncivilized you are. >Hi Everyone, > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > >So, does anybody know what I'm talking about? >I guess as a person who had lived in Beijing for 2 years, and Shanghai 2 > years may have a better view for what you at talking about. I have many [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > self respect. While you are damaging the image of Chinese, you are just > showing how uncivilized you are. Thank you Gottus. Very informative, and its lovely to see the more educated not eating the domestic cat! :-) well, I guess I stand corrected. Although it's strange, she was so sure that it was a genetic new breed which never grew to larger than kitten size. The idea of having a cat I could actually have in my bedroom at home, and take on trips with me sounded wonderful! Ah well... Thank you everyone for the discussion though :) > I guess as a person who had lived in Beijing for 2 years, and Shanghai 2 > years may have a better view for what you at talking about. I have many local [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > self respect. While you are damaging the image of Chinese, you are just > showing how uncivilized you are. Thank you for your enlightening post. It's also considered uncivilized to show harm where no offense is given. pat >I guess as a person who had lived in Beijing for 2 years, and Shanghai 2 >years may have a better view for what you at talking about. I have many local [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >cat and dog lovers, and against using these types of animals as food or >luxary food. That is certainly good news. But It is well documented that Cats/Dogs are not considered domesticated pets in China,at least not in the general population. >Cat fur is not used, never seen in Beijing and Shanghai. That will be a false >version of Chinese raise cat for fur. I am happy to hear this.But there is documentation to the contrary. >The cat which Pretzelz metion, I may check out with some of my friends in >Beijing, but I guess that is a lie to tourists. Some just sell sick cats to [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >much expensive then what your friend talking about. She paid nearly about >1000RMB (about 125USD) for it. >Personally I hope those people who answered to your post who doesn't know >Chinese culture very well, please don't try to add your imagination as >information. What has been posted is documented information. Perhaps not as specific as shoud be,but is not false. >And please respect to other culture cause it is also a kind of >self respect. I would be the first one here to show respect for another culture,but If that culture has bad aspects to it,then I will also be the first to point them out. >hile you are damaging the image of Chinese, you are just >showing how uncivilized you are. Sorry you feel this way..but giving true information about an activity that indeed takes place in Chinese culture is not being "uncivilized" at all. While I admit that to say that ALL Chinese people eat Cats as a food is wrong,nevertheless Cats ARE eaten as a food item. >Some just sell sick cats to >people, of course they will forever never arrive kitten size, cause they die Now this is what is uncivilized. They need to be cared for. Ray WebElder >>Hi Everyone, >> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >> >>So, does anybody know what I'm talking about? I don't "Suffer" from Insanity..I rather enjoy it! CATTS http://members.tripod.com/~thewebster/catts.html Home Page http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/9826/meshead.html I guess the documentd you got is very outdated. Now if a dog was considered to be a pet, the owner need to take a licence. And renew it yearly. The cost is not very "affordable" for many household. But as long as I know many local people have dog as pet, and they got the licence. Also I know some dogs without licence, the owner were caught in jail and the dogs were put to sleep. As my last post said that some places still eat dogs and cats as "luxary", I cannot say that the whole China is well civilized. And some places are so poor that they don't have enough food. Imagine a household of 3 people, the annual income is about 30USD, so it is imaginable that they will eat anything they "find". Of couse these information will not go out from China, since the news of China expose to international is tightly controlled by the government. For sure that Cat was not one of the favourite pet of Chinese, Japanese loves cat more. From the folk tales you can reivew them. In the Chinese folk talls never appear cat, several times appeared are the relative of cat - the tiger, not a domestic cat. Many folk tales of Japanese have cat play the main role. The cat loving culture of Japan forsure will be much deep then Chinese. If the cat was really genetical modify. I guess the government will be the first one happily "show" to the world. Just like the "fish wine" they are very proud of they invented the first wine made of animals. As I know that some compaies in Beijing is concentrate on producing DNA products. That may be possible to have the gentic "new product". From my personal point of view if the "minature cat" is really a breakthrough of gentic technology, they will not hiding it :) and we will not talk about it only here. Many news paper or technology magazine will rush to Beijing for reporting. >>I guess as a person who had lived in Beijing for 2 years, and Shanghai 2 >>years may have a better view for what you at talking about. I have many local [quoted text clipped - 62 lines] >Home Page >http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/9826/meshead.html OK I got 3 different replies from Beijing. One said saw someone selling the cat on street, not much, and not many people interesed in, that means it is not very common. Two said never see it. And none of them ever heard about that the mini cat is a trend and never heard about there any news on the gentical modification activity on domestic cat in Beijing. >Hi Everyone, > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > >So, does anybody know what I'm talking about? |
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