It never ever struck Han when she started publishing videos of her precious feline Guangdang meowing for food on social networks 2 years ago that her animal would end up being an online experience. “I at first simply wished to tape-record Guangdang’s every day life online,” states the 28-year-old, who chooses to pass her surname to safeguard her personal privacy. “I didn’t believe she was the type of feline that individuals would love.” Guangdang’s look, defined by deep folds in between the nose and lips, offers her an unfortunate however heartfelt expression, particularly when she’s asking for food: The feline’s enthusiasm is consuming, and she looks starving even after Han feeds her. On the Chinese way of life app Xiaohongshu, Guangdang has actually collected over 380,000 fans, who typically publish remarks about how the feline’s look and habits bring pleasure to their lives. On Instagram, she has 1.3 million fans. Han, who explains herself as an introvert, states she is rather flustered by the unexpected popularity. “I was a little stunned by all of it,” she states. “I do not understand if I must respond to all the remark posts or what I must state if I do.” The flood of favorable feedback has actually encouraged Han to continue sharing day-to-day posts of Guangdang. Among Guangdang’s fans, Zhang Xin, enjoys her videos every day. She enjoys felines however can not manage to keep one at the minute. “A day without hearing her voice seems like something is missing out on,” states the 25-year-old, who lives alone in Shanghai. “Especially hearing her meow when I get home after a difficult day, I feel recovered.” Another fan, Yu Xiaohui, 33, states she fell for felines due to the fact that of Guangdang, which likewise encouraged her to feed the strays in her neighborhood with other volunteers. “I’ve never ever seen such an adorable feline,” Yu states. “Sometimes I want I was Guangdang, not needing to go to work and fret about earning a living, simply consuming and playing every day, and in return getting the love of the world.” Due to the fact that Han’s label is Dingdang, she called her feline Guangdang, an onomatopoeia in Mandarin Chinese. “It’s like the noise a feline makes when it arrive on its feet,” Han describes. Guangdang ended up being an international feeling when Han, on the suggestion of many fans, produced an Instagram represent the feline. The brief videos generally draw in numerous remarks and 10s of countless “likes.” “It’s truly the most popular feline on the web,” one remark continues reading Instagram. “You are my everyday dosage of joy,” checks out another common remark. Han, who states her English is restricted, posts easy sentences in her online captions about the feline. Guangdang’s international impact has actually continued to bloom as netizens worldwide started developing videos including her and another Chinese feline called Bozai in 2023. The 2 felines have actually been combined, with their discussions showing the daily stress and anxieties and feelings of individuals. In the videos, Bozai is depicted as major, with wide-open, round eyes and a commanding existence, while Guangdang comes off as timider, with a furrowed eyebrow and the appearance of wishing to speak however not able to handle more than a peaceful “meow.” In these imaginative works, netizens have actually illustrated the 2 felines as mom and child, instructor and trainee, couple, and other relations. Through these videos, they reveal their sensations about the pressures of schoolwork, stretched relationships with moms and dads, and the obstacles of discovering a task in today’s competitive market. Han states, “In these 2 felines’ state of minds, it might be that people see the sensations that they have a hard time to communicate in their every day lives.” Han has actually been in contact with Bozai’s owner, there are presently no strategies for the felines to satisfy or their owners to movie videos together. “Guangdang hesitates of other felines, so the response that lots of netizens think of would take place most likely would not if they really fulfilled,” Han states, thinking that possibly her feline was bullied by other felines throughout her preliminary life as a roaming: Han discovered Guangdang in her area in 2019, contesting food with a group of kittycats. “I discovered how emaciated she was, that made her body appearance exceptionally long, Han remembers. “I pitied her.” She includes that the kitties were later on saved and embraced by other feline enthusiasts. Han took Guangdang to a veterinarian for a check-up, which exposed that she was a 1-year-old blended tabby and weighed less than 2 kgs. The feline now weighs 5 kgs, no doubt due to her gourmand practices. “Now her body looks extremely brief, with a little head,” Han states, “She’s chubby and charming.” Han matured in the northwest of China. Before Guangdang, she had actually never ever had any animals and didn’t consider herself as an animal enthusiast. She didn’t pay any attention to felines and pets she saw on the streets. “It’s a wonderful sensation,” Han states. “When I saw Guangdang, I simply wished to keep her.” Han presently lives alone in the eastern city of Nanjing, where she operates in the animation market. She and Guangdang are inseparable. “When I talk, she reacts, and when she talks, I react,” Han states, with a laugh. “It seems like we are interacting, however possibly we do not actually comprehend each other’s significance.” While a lot of online remarks about the Guangdang videos are complimentary, Han states there is periodically destructive feedback. She has actually been implicated of abusing Guangdang, intentionally not feeding her for days to make her appearance weak and tired. There were online reports that Guangdang had actually brought to life kittycats that had actually passed away, triggering her discomfort. “At initially, I raged by such remarks, however after a while, they didn’t trouble me any longer,” she states. In addition to Instagram, Han posts Guangdang’s videos on TikTok, where she presently has more than 400,000 fans. Many of the remarks there state how charming the feline is, some netizens have actually mentioned that the feline’s unfortunate look might recommend she is ill. “These sort of remarks have actually just recently reduced,” Han states. “I feel that as long as I continue to publish sufficient videos, individuals will learn more about her much better and there will be less unfavorable remarks.” The majority of Han’s brief videos are shot spontaneously and modified rapidly, taking her about 10 minutes a day. “Most of the time, I’m simply having a hard time to come up with a title. The number of various methods can I state that Guangdang is starving once again?” Han states with a laugh. In one video, Han put a hat on Guangdang. Numerous abroad netizens implicated her of “requiring” habits. In another video where she was cuddling Guangdang, the video didn’t succeed on Chinese apps however got numerous “likes” on foreign platforms. “I believe foreign netizens choose videos where there’s more interaction, while Chinese fans choose to hear Guangdang’s meowing,” she states. Does this all have an aspect of cultural export? Han states she isn’t sure about that, though she does attempt to present some Chinese cultural customs in videos on Instagram and TikTok for the advantage of foreign netizens. Throughout the Mid-Autumn Festival, she published a video of Guangdang consuming a mooncake formed like a feline’s paw. On the winter season solstice, she positioned a dumpling on Guangdang’s head, describing to foreign fans that Chinese individuals consume dumplings on that event. Looking ahead, Han states she wishes to resign from her task and go freelance. She reckons that will offer her more time to commit to Guangdang in the house and to the development of the feline videos. She likewise prepares to submit an animation of Guangdang. Han states lots of foreign netizens wrongly believe Guangdang is a Japanese, Korean, or Singaporean feline. “I may need to stress more that Guangdang is Chinese,” she states (Header image: Visuals from Xiaohongshu and VCG, reedited by Sixth Tone)
How a Chinese Cat With a Doleful Mug Became an Online Star
