I was on my way to the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium to cover the men's hockey final between India and Japan when I met Judea, a volunteer at the Games Village. She was sitting next to me in the media bus with her eyes glued to the screen of her mobile phone. I glanced over as she scrolled through the images of an adorable pet duck on her Instagram page. Suddenly, she turned around and told me. "This is my pet duck. I call him Quiboy. He is a Call Duck, one of the friendliest breeds of duck."
Quiboy has over 2,900 followers on Instagram. As Instagram is blocked in China, Judea uses a VPN to log on to her account. She is one among the millions of devoted animal lovers in China. Pets are part of the family in the majority of Chinese households and they accompany their owners everywhere.
China's pet economy started booming after the government implemented a family planning programme to address the growth rate of the country's population. With more and more people choosing to have children later, they have pets they treat like family. According to official data, young millennials under 30 account for around 60 per cent of total pet owners in China.
According to a survey, Chinese pet lovers spent around $30 billion in 2022 to spoil their furry friends with the best food and accessories. In 2011, a Chinese coal baron hit the headlines when he paid around Rs 6.8 crore for an 11-month-old red Tibetan mastiff named 'Big Splash', making it the most expensive dog in the world. In 2019, a commercial pet-cloning company based in Beijing drew international attention to the commercialisation of pet cloning after it created the first cloned kitten in the country.
Grooming salons for pets can be spotted in every Chinese city. They offer a wide range of services from washing, hair cutting, and nail clipping to massaging. Hangzhou, which is hosting the 19th Asian Games, has a luxurious modern grooming salon for pets which includes a sunken cafe, playground and a paddling pool.
Although China's love for pets has no boundaries, the country has a patchwork of regulations covering pet ownership. A couple of cities in China have introduced restrictions on pet ownership, allowing each household to only have one pet animal. China has also criminalised the act of leaving a pet unattended under dangerous conditions. Signboards prohibiting the entry of pet animals can be found in every nook and cranny of the Games Village in Hangzhou.