Wowo (Photo by Yang Yang/China Daily)
"Keeping cats has changed who I am. I used to care only about myself. But after learning to look after childlike cats and caring about their happiness, I have become a better teacher."
However, keeping cats is very much a minority interest in China. By 2014, 2 percent of families in urban areas had them, while 7 percent had dogs, the National Bureau of Statistics says.
Dogs have become good companions for older people as more young people head to big cities to seek work opportunities.
When Jiang Xiaobin moved to Beijing to work for a newspaper four years ago her parents in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, adopted a poodle named Xiaohei (little black), she says.
"When I was little they didn't allow me to keep pets, but this time it was they who decided they wanted one," she says.
Returning home after being away, Jiang's father makes a beeline for the attic, where the dog stays during the day, she says.
"My parents treat him like a son, kind of like a replacement for me. My father is his first master, my mother the second, and I am just his sister."
In fact the dog has become an important topic when her parents speak to her on the phone, and many of their daily activities have begun to revolve around the dog.
So that it can play on the roof they erected a ladder, and when Jiang's father bought a new car it meant he could take the dog on long trips, something they now often do. Jiang's mother learned how to do online shopping last year and she has bought clothes and toys for the dog. They even take the dog to a pet shop so that it can meet other dogs.
"My parents have become good friends with a lot of other dog owners," Jiang says. "One owns a hardware shop and helped us repair the broken tap in our bathroom."
Walking the dog every day helps her parents stay healthy, Jiang says.
Qiao Jingwen, 30, of Beijing, says that when she feels depressed at home, her two dogs run to her, rubbing themselves against her legs, and holding them makes her feel better.
Ever since she adopted the two dogs she has made her business trips shorter, ensuring that she is away for no longer than two days.
"I cannot stand leaving them for too long. All I did was give them a roof over their heads, but they have given me much, much more."
Zheng Richang, a professor of psychology at Beijing Normal University, has done research on children and pets and found that those who keep them tend to look after the weak, are less likely to feel lonely, and are more likely to become interested in or love animals. Keeping pets can better teach children responsibility and independence, he says.
"Many families have only one child, which easily makes children self-centered and poor at communicating with others. But keeping pets nurtures patience, empathy and a sense of responsibility."
Wu Jian says: "Maybe every person from a one-child family should keep a cat to cure the cancer of egotism."
In countries like Germany and South Korea, keeping pets is prescribed to help cure depression and addictions, says Tao Ran, director of the medical addiction division of the General Hospital of Beijing Military Region.
