Cat, cat

Author: Chen Zishan (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Regarding cats, small animals with a closeness to humans second only to dogs, I was originally indifferent to whether I liked them. Unlike my writer friend, Mr. Xiao Bao, who visibly shows a disdainful expression whenever cats are mentioned, or unlike Mr. Lu Xun in his famous essay "Dogs, Cats, and Mice," who couldn’t help but grab a bamboo rod upon hearing a cat’s late-night mating call. Lu Xun’s "hatred for cats" was well-known. Liang Shiqiu, Lu Xun’s ideological opponent, wrote an early essay titled "Cats," yet his views were astonishingly similar to Lu Xun’s. However, Liang Shiqiu was also famously fond of cats in his later years. The 180-degree shift in Liang Shiqiu’s attitude toward cats—from hatred to love—is truly fascinating. This is a "cat book"—a delightful collection of essays by many cat lovers on raising, cherishing, feeding, and enjoying the companionship of cats. The authors are all renowned figures, such as Lu Xun, Zheng Zhenduo, Bing Xin, Feng Zikai, Lao She, Ji Xian, Yang Jiang, Baoyang, Wang Meng, and Cai Lan, among others. Scholar-writers’ essays on the human spirit often reveal true personalities in subtle details, filled with amusing anecdotes. For example, Qian Zhongshu helped cats fight and even wrote poems for them; Ji Xianlin strolled on small hills, with his cat Huazi shadowing him step by step; even the renowned couple from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Baoyang and Zhang Xianghua, shared their love for cats by discussing "Mencius the Cat"; Xi Murong and Liu Haibei co-wrote "Liu Family’s Cat Garden," and so on. Reading it is a source of endless amusement. The book also features numerous cat paintings by painters such as Manet, Steichen, Xu Beihong, and Pan Yuliang, along with many illustrations from books worldwide, and photographs of writers like Hemingway and Bing Xin coexisting with cats. All are shared with the readers.