Miaow dynasty: Meet China's most lucrative cat models
His face sells cars, he is often surrounded by glamorous women and can earn thousands of pounds a day in front of the cameras - but Mao Mao isn't your regular model.
The two-year-old British shorthair whose name translates as “Fuzzy Fuzzy", can lay claim to be China's first celebrity cat to branch out into the lucrative world of modelling.
In a country already in the grip of a cat craze, Mao Mao has elevated the luxury feline economy to the next level - and now earns more than human models for his work, his owner claims.
While he diligently avoids catwalks, he can mostly be seen lounging on the bonnet or dashboard of a sports car or SUV, for which he rakes in between 5,000 to 15,000 yuan (£550 to £1,650 pounds) per photo shoot.
A product of a nation increasingly obsessed with cats, Mao Mao is riding a wave of popularity for felines boosted by the pandemic.
Studies have shown 34 per cent of people in China have pets to relieve loneliness. The combined impact of Covid-19 and young people’s decisions to move to big cities have left cats like Mao Mao in high demand.
In recent years, China has witnessed a rise in pet influencers that earn money through advertisements promoting pet supplies through social media. Some felines have as many as half a million followers on Weibo, China's Twitter, while over a million Chinese people tune in to pet-related livestreams every day.
But as Zheng Zhi, Mao Mao's owner, explains that his cat works on a more traditional business model. Aside from working as a car model, Mao Mao can also model for jewellery brands.
Mr Zheng, through Mao Mao, earns more than an average human model in China. “A car model earns 800-1500 yuan (£80-150) modelling one day, but Mao Mao is paid 2,000 yuan (£200) for half a day,” Zheng said. For brand partnerships, Mao Mao is typically offered 5,000 to 15,000 yuan to attend an event, in addition to one social media post.
A typical day will involve dressing up and sitting on top of or inside a car at a mall or showroom. Crowds regularly surround Mao Mao, a descendant of cat beauty pageant winners, taking pictures and stroking his fur.
At a recent auto show at a Chinese mall, Mr Zheng said two other human female models were dressed in cat-themed cheongsams. “When I placed Mao Mao in the car on display, he was three times more popular than those two beautiful car models,” he said.
For Mao Mao’s first two car shows, Zheng took it upon himself to plan, manage lighting, and photography for his cat. But as Mao Mao’s popularity grew, so did his income – now, the cat has a whole team dedicated to presentation. Zheng has even hired an assistant to cater to Mao Mao’s needs.
Mao Mao has booked three shows in the past month, however since The Telegraph spoke to Zhang, the cat has secured more than ten more shows. But despite his high commercial value, Mao Mao has 6350 followers at Douyin, a Chinese version of Tiktok.
China has long cherished cats, which have been the focus of annual worship in previous dynasties and were kept as pets of the aristocracy as symbols of good luck, depending on the colour of the fur.
But China’s growing economy in recent years has also led to an enormous growth in the number of pet owners. According to a 2020 Pets Industry Report, the number of pet owners in China have increased from 73.15 million in 2017 to 99.15 million in 2019. The pet market has exceeded 200 billion yuan, and by 2022, China will have over 300 million cats and dogs, as predicted by Euromonitor International.
