A study to be released this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that cats first lived alongside humans as early as 5,300 years ago in the Chinese village of Quanhucun in modern-day Shaanxi province.

One of the study’s co-authors, Fiona Marshall, an archaeology professor at Washington University of St. Louis, said in a Wash U press release: “Results of this study show that the village of Quanhucun was a source of food for the cats 5,300 years ago, and the relationship between humans and cats was commensal, or advantageous for the cats.”

We’ll note, very briefly, that the study was based off work by Chinese researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who seem to be slowly uncovering evidence that everything in the world originates from China. But we don’t really have a reason to doubt these findings, and indeed that’s not the point of this post. Let’s take a moment to admire cats even more than we already do. After all, those afflicted with Toxo — brain cysts that cats gift us (not to be confused with the carcass of that bird on your doorstep) — are better, stronger, wiser people.

Here’s how the study was done:

Using radiocarbon dating and isotopic analyses of carbon and nitrogen traces in the bones of cats, dogs, deer and other wildlife unearthed near Quanhucan, they demonstrated how a breed of once-wild cats carved a niche for themselves in a society that thrived on the widespread cultivation of the grain millet.

Carbon isotopes indicate that rodents, domestic dogs and pigs from the ancient village were eating millet, but deer were not. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes show that cats were preying on animals that lived on farmed millet, probably rodents. At the same time, an ancient rodent burrow into a storage pit and the rodent-proof design of grain storage pots indicate that farmers had problems with rodents in the grain stores.

Other clues gleaned from the Quanhucun food web suggest the relationship between cats and humans had begun to grow closer. One of the cats was aged, showing that it survived well in the village. Another ate fewer animals and more millet than expected, suggesting that it scavenged human food or was fed.

Researchers are now asking where the first domestic cat came from. Per the Wash U article, DNA evidence suggests “most of the estimated 600 million domestic cats now living around the globe are descendants most directly of the Near Eastern Wildcat, one of the five Felis sylvestris lybica wildcat subspecies still found around the Old World…. ‘We do not yet know whether these cats came to China from the Near East, whether they interbred with Chinese wild-cat species, or even whether cats from China played a previously unsuspected role in domestication,’ Marshall said.”

If you’re looking for the China joke here, don’t bother: Samuel Wade of China Digital Times already has you covered:

The new study does not reveal whether it mattered at this early stage if the cats were black or white.

The name of the cat pictured above is Little One.

Cat domestication traced to Chinese farmers 5,300 years ago (Wash U, via The Atlantic)

These are not the stories one wishes to see. Alas, AFP has written up this one, so here goes.

Animal activists are combing a forest in eastern China for more than 1,000 kittens rescued from a meat supplier only to be let loose by local authorities, an organiser said Monday.

That’s the lede. What it tells us is that, apparently, people eat kittens (if you believe everything you hear in the news). It also tells us that in some cases, local authorities, who don’t want to raise 1,000 kittens (and why would they deny themselves that bit of heaven???), will let all of them loose in the forest.

This is reportedly what happened in Wuxi, Jiangsu province last week.

Animal protection volunteers and local police intercepted a truck “filled with cats” destined for dinner plates last week, said an activist surnamed Ni from the Wuxi Small Animal Protection Association in eastern Jiangsu province.

But local government officials released the felines — some as young as four months old — into a nearby mountain forest to fend for themselves, Ni said.

“They were being sent to Guangzhou to be eaten by people,” he told AFP.

“We didn’t want to release them, our volunteers had places to keep them. It’s definitely irresponsible.”

The story really doesn’t get better from here. Fifty or so kittens have been rescued, but some have been run over by cars, etc.

It’s an unforgiving world we live in. If only more people grew up with copious cat gifs.

Chinese officials ‘set 1,000 cats loose in forest’ (AFP, image via) (H/T Alicia)

We desperately don’t want this to be true, but Tsinghua’s famous three-year-old cat, who had been adopted as the university’s unofficial mascot, may have been brutally killed last week.

This is bad. Reports That’s Beijing:

The man responsible for discovering the dead feline – librarian and unofficial catsitter Mr. Li – appeared to confirm students’ worst fears when he revealed that the Curator’s lifeless body had been found in a pool of lukewarm water. This was not the first time such an incidence has occurred either; the Curator had survived previous attacks in which boiling water was inexplicably thrown over it.

That’s the implication alright: Curator has boiling water thrown on him and was scalded to death.

At least one Sina Weibo user has claimed Curator has been doused with sulfuric acid before as well. Goddamnit, folks.

The candles are out on Sina Weibo, along with sad elegies written from the cat’s point of view, and messages such as, “Heaven doesn’t have bad people.”

Students have been paying respect to Curator under a gingko tree on campus, where he’s buried. A plaque may be dedicated in his honor, which is nice gesture, we suppose, but will hardly cause anyone to forget the cruelty that killed him. The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice, yadda yadda, but it’s the assholes that cause it to be crooked in the first place.

This Week in Animal Abuse (That’s Beijing)

Not every kitten in this story survives, so just go ahead and click away now if you don’t want to read about it.

Amid tragedy, however, we also have a tale of human compassion in the form of a spontaneous, group effort to rescue all that could be rescued.

Yesterday, a truck carrying more than 40 crates of kittens (we’re talking hundreds), possibly on its way to Guangzhou, got into an accident at the intersection of Panpan Road and Changxing Road in Changsha, Hunan province.

The cats remained trapped in their boxes. According to China News, it began to drizzle that night, and some of the animals, who had been without food for more than a day, died. At least two newborns also perished.

But this horrific scene — imagine the yawping; if you’ve ever seen a cat in pain, you know exactly — set the stage for a heartening display of charity. Local residents who heard the news began arriving in the middle of the night with food and mineral water. Then, after repeated requests and negotiations, residents pooled together thousands of yuan to buy the shipment — all of the cats.

The lucky felines were taken to a local animal shelter, where they’re being temporarily looked after.

UPDATE, 1/16, 2:19 am: Just saw that the website Care for Chinese Animals reported on this as well. In a translated message possibly written by someone who was at the scene:

The driver refused to answer reporters’ questions. All of these cats were severely mistreated and starved, having not had any food or water for many days. Many thanks to a police officer Mr. Wang Yujing and among the others were calling for help through Weibo for local Changsha people to come and rescue the poor cats.

…This is a terrible situation for loving volunteers to be in. While we don’t want to give a cent to the cruel evil, there was no other way for them to save the poor cats. If the police were to insist on having the cats released to the volunteers, we would not have to pay anything to the horrible cat napper. The capture of cats is criminal, but this doesn’t stop greedy and selfish kidnappers from stealing and hurting cats. Current food and safety laws do not allow food that has not been quarantined to be eaten, but that is not enough. We are calling for stricter animal protection laws to be introduced, to protect those who cannot speak.

1. In case there was any confusion, no, it does not get much cuter than this:

2. This cat thinks it’s the world’s greatest leaper:

3. But this cat begs to differ:

4. Nevermind everything, we have a winner:

5. This cat does not care:

6. Cat: “Did I do that?”

7. Grumpy cat is actually happy cat: true story.

8. Heeeeeere’s Maru:

9. Creepster alert:

10. This cat’s day is absolutely ruined:

11. Why hello there:

And a bonus!

Now chill the fuck out, everyone.

|Blogging the Bloggers Archives|

Okay, cat. Here’s the deal. This Shineway Sausage is mine. I bought it. I did. With money. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, judging by the way you sit on your hiney like a smug supplicant. You know what? Go ahead and stay there with your raised eyebrow, wiggling whiskers, paws rubbing together like a soft, fluffy, irresistibe wind-up toy. Nothing you do will to convince me to give you this food. Go ahead and try.

Jesus, have it all!

Nanjing Stray Cat Rubbing Its Paws Together Amuses Netizens (chinaSMACK)

Did you know the musical Cats has a Mandarin version, and is currently in Beijing? It debuted in Shanghai in August before swinging by Guangzhou and Chongqing, and 100 shows later, is now playing at Century Theater in this city.

Century Theater’s website is terribly shitty, but a representative there told me that the show’s Beijing debut was December 21, and the next performance is this Sunday. You won’t find it listed on the terribly shitty website though, and calling the ticket office at 6468 6708 apparently doesn’t work either, so you’ll have to buy tickets at Century Theater’s window, which is open during normal business hours.

To think of it… a world-class musical like Cats really deserves better than this treatment. I mean, THIS…

…should at least get a small banner ad on the website of the theater where it is currently playing, don’t you think?

Also, this is terrible:

Performances will run until February 3, according to CCTV News (you can watch a short clip of the Chinese version of “Memory” via that link).

If you prefer to appreciate Cats from the comfort of home, the entire musical, starring Elaine Paige and the original London cast, can be watched on Youku.

And here’s “Memory” on Youku, with Chinese lyrics:

Videos after the jump.

And for those who really love watching snow fall:

YouTube user youluukvideo, whose profile says he/she is based in Taiwan, posted this video last week. We’ve seen a dog sit on the back of a bike in China, but a cat? In a hat? Turning around to look at the cameraman and thinking, we’re sure, “What you looking at?”? Incredible. Much better than that dog.

(H/T Buzzfeed via Alicia) Youku video for those in China after the jump.

We fashion ourselves cat lovers at Beijing Cream, but we had no idea that something called the International Famed Cats Exhibition (国际名猫展) happened yesterday in Beijing, as Alicia found out yesterday via China News. It was organized by the China Pearl Feline Fanciers Club and involved a contest of exotic cat breeds. (No word on who won.) More than 100 cats were at the exhibition, some of which you’ll find in the pictures after the jump. And if you’re wondering where to go to get your cat fix in Beijing, City Weekend has you covered.

Via Sina Weibo:

This past Monday was National Hug Your Cat Day. If you didn’t know that, you’re already less of a cat lover than this dog here, a five-year-old in Shandong who was recently found nursing three tiny creatures. Her owners initially thought they were puppies, but upon closer inspection, they discovered that the infants were actually kittens.

Funny thing happened, then: the owners saw A, they saw B, so they connected A and B and thought: Holy cow, our dog gave birth to cats! At least two versions of the story goes like this: one day, the owner heard her dog give a yelp, and when she went to look, she found three kittens. How is that possible? “However, the different chromosomes of dogs and cats make them unable to mate,” Xinmin News tells us.

You don’t say.

To no one’s surprise, this story is currently trending on Weibo. Are netizens drawn to the compassion of the mother dog? To the irresistible appeal of baby felines? Or maybe are they drawn to the charming gullibility of the rural pet owners?

Eh. It’s probably the animals.

Here‘s the video I used to make the above — forgive me, but I thought it needed a dash of the Supremes.

Via Neatorama (H/T @nblitofsky)

Your anniversary-day links.

Photos: here, here, here, and here.

Today is the worst day of the year for those who have to adhere to Party bullshit. “Besides the blocked searches, Sina’s censors also appeared to be aggressively taking down content related to the Tiananmen anniversary, pushing users to employ increasingly oblique references in attempting to commemorate the crackdown. // Sina’s snuffing of the virtual candle, which users typically embed in posts to commemorate noteworthy deaths, appears to have occurred on Sunday afternoon. The site’s censors have since blocked searches for lazhu (蜡烛), the modern Chinese word for candle, but have neglected to block the classical Chinese word for candle (laju; 蜡炬) that appears in Li’s poem – hence the poem’s recent reimagining as an elegy.” [Josh Chin, WSJ]

Corollary: “Sensitive Words: Tiananmen Edition.” [China Digital Times]

Three stories and no more about that cannibal, Luka Rocco Magnotta, and his victim, Lin Jun. [Globe and Mail 1, Globe and Mail 2, chinaSMACK]

Teaching journalism in China. “Mr. [Peter] Arnett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent who has covered conflicts from Vietnam to the Middle East. In 2007, after he finished his final reporting tour in Baghdad, he moved to China to take up a post as a journalism teacher at Shantou University. He has been teaching at the school ever since. // ‘I have great difficulties explaining this to my former colleagues, who laugh and say, “How can you teach journalism in a country where the government controls the media?”’ Mr. Arnett said.” [NY Times]

Deputy minister of state security Qiu Jin accused of being a US spy. “There were conflicting reports on how the alleged spy was recruited. In one account, it occurred while he was a student in the U.S. The Oriental Daily, however, reported that he was caught up in a classic ‘honey trap’ by a woman who photographed him in a compromising setting in a Hong Kong apartment and later coerced him into spying.” [LA Times]

Eric Fish continues to have interesting encounters. “On one bus ride I did encounter a middle-aged Chinese man who, as soon as I told him I was American, proceeded to rattle off every Chinese grievance with the United States from the past 60 years. Touching on everything from the Belgrade embassy bombing to interference in Libya, he said things like ‘America tries to rule the world. It’s really evil!’ After several minutes, he got louder and inadvertently started replacing ‘America’ with ‘you all’ in his rant. When the rest of the bus started laughing at him though, he became self-aware, laughed along, grabbed my hand, and said, ‘…But you and I are just normal people. It has nothing to do with us. We’re friends.’” [Sinostand]

Your propane explosion interlude:

Finally…

All keywords blocked by Great Firewall on Google in China. [GreatFire.org]

“Kitty Weekend” is legitimately awesome. [City Weekend]

Evan Osnos on Burma and China. [New Yorker]

Introducing… these Chinese brands. [Trend Watching]

Finally, finally, posting here cause it’s disappeared from 王克_Ken‘s Weibo…

Via The Inspiration Room (h/t Alicia).

You can almost pretend the shed he’s in is a barn, and we’re not really in Beijing — off Dongzhimen Outer Street — but Nebraska. |Beijing Zoo Gallery|

|Beijing Zoo Gallery|

H/T Bambi

Got an animal you’d like to see featured? Send to tips@beijingcream.com. |Beijing Zoo Gallery|