This is a video hosted on a Chinese server in China. Once again, I wanted to look at some Chinese videos and what I’m finding so far is a lot of cuteness. I sense that both the Japanese and Chinese tend to relate to their domestic cats as cute humans which is what people do in the West a lot of the time as well.
Apparently this little kitten was flown two thousand kilometres to his or her new home. You can see the woman introducing the kitten to his new surroundings. She clearly has a fondness for cats because she has two or three waiting in the wings to meet the new arrival. She keeps them away for the time being.
In presenting this video, I have not forgotten that there are no animal welfare laws in China and there is, amongst a section of society it seems to me in China, a cruelty towards animals which is in stark contrast to what you see in this video.
It would be nice, actually, to be able to talk to people in China to try and get a perhaps clearer idea of what goes on in that country. They tend to block out interference from the West and it can be quite hard to understand the mentality behind the relationship between people and their domestic cats.
For instance, before the Beijing Olympic Games the authorities cleaned up all the streets in Beijing of stray cats and dogs in what I would consider to be a very brutal way. On the one side you have that, a very careless and callous approach to animal welfare, and on the other side you have this sort of video where a Chinese woman clearly has a very deep fondness for domestic cats.
I totally agree about the dichotomy that exists in animal welfare in China. We need to keep pushing for the humane treatment of animals everywhere, regardless of persistent and unchanging attitudes in various regions. Any improvement is better than none at all.
I love Asian culture and have always been drawn to it. Fantastic topic Michael. In the link below is a Korean story that touches my heart so closely that I get teary eyes every time I watch it. I look forward to more articles about human/feline relations.💜💜💜
https://www.facebook.com/GlobalCatNetwork/videos/660236000850439/
Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.
There will be change in China on animal welfare. The sooner the better.
I have had some very interesting and er, robust chats with a chap of Chinese heritage, who works in a large local shop. He used to be an accountant for international business. He was sought after to work with Chinese/Anglo businesses because of his cultural origin/experience and language abilities.
He has seen it all, eaten it all.
He confirms strongly that the brutalisation of humans, war and famine, lack of education, lack of cosmopolitan cultural experience leads to brutal attitudes to other species.
With no human rights law, there is little chance of other species being protected. Cultural isolation is a very effective tool in keeping a nation of people compliant and unquestioning.
As capitalism has seeped in to the edges of China, so have the vulgar, braggart behaviours of the worst of young, educated western professionals, hence the rise of cat/dogmeat restaurents in the 80s and 90s. The yuppies hijacked changing attitudes to companion animals and threw them back to times of famine in history. Modern myths (lies) about the benefits of eating species who had undergone horrific, agonising deaths perpetuated. Yulin festival is nothing to do with tradition, it is about money.
He says that it is the young, and often the very old (who have experience of famine) who are now the most vociferous advocates for respect and kindness towards other species.
Unless China opens up, the small hope for wildlife and all species does not stand much chance.
Again, our hopes lie with the wisdom of the old and the thirst for evolution of attitudes held by the young