Pet ownership: Controversy and the ‘new normal’

Giulia Mazzola

Animals are all over the internet in many different forms such as cute photos, memes, news stories and so on. We love these furry hair balls SO much that we even invite them into our homes to live with us! Pets are universally loved, and even though the headlines are filled with the Chinese economy’s “new normal” (新常态, xīnchángtài), their pet industry is still growing rapidly. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China: China is the third largest dog owning population, and the pet care industry is expected to grow more than 50% by 2019.

There are, of course, lots of differing opinions regarding pet ownership – particularly in large cities. Some argue that it’s inhumane to keep certain dog breeds in Shanghai during the sweltering summer, for example. Some even argue that it’s cruel and unusual to constantly assault your neighbors’ ears with a particularly loud dog! As a matter of fact, there are restrictions in certain cities on the size of the dog allowed (no more than 35 centimeters/1.1 foot) (source: Pet Relocation). This mistakenly assumes that larger dog breeds are more aggressive and noisy than smaller ones, and that large breeds always require more space and/or exercise. Anyone living in China will have often seen the nighttime hordes of dog owners that come out to walk their dogs. This is either to avoid the heat of the day, or to avoid being caught with a dog that exceeds the size restrictions set in place.

The fact remains that most people will do anything for their pets and love to talk about them! If you want to start up a conversation with someone about their animals at home, the main question you need to know is:

Do you have any pets? 你养宠物吗?

This more literally translates to do you raise any pets as the verb 养 yǎng means to raise. To continue the conversation you should delve into the different types of pets one can have. So once you’ve learnt the words for cat (猫 mǎo) and dog (够gǒu) from this lesson, or learned how to talk about your pet hamster, then you can move on to stranger varieties of pets.

Once you have exhausted all of these options, there are many more weird and cute stories to find on the Chinese side of the Internet to fulfill all of your animal needs!

Here is a selection of some of the cutest and oddest stories from China’s webspace:

Supplementary Vocabulary:

Corgi 科尔吉 Kē ěr jí
Cone of shame 耻辱罩 chǐrǔ zhào
Luxurious 奢华 shēhuá
Funeral 葬礼 zànglǐ
Funeral home 殡仪馆 bìn yí guǎn
Explosion site 爆炸核心 bào zhà hé xīn
Tianjin (noun) 天津 Tiānjīn

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Giulia Mazzola

Giulia has been learning Chinese for 8 years since failed holiday plans took her to Shanghai instead of backpacking around Europe. She has lived in Beijing and Taipei throughout her studies where she explored the cafe culture and street food scene. Now she lives in London. Having worked in Finance for four years Giulia is now travelling the world but still keeping up her Chinese lessons as she goes!

Favourite ChinesePod lesson: "The frog prince in the well".