China Poodle ‘Babies’ Spur $1.2 Billion Pet-Care Market [Bloomberg]

Once banned as a ‘bourgeois decadence’, having a pet dog has become trendy and increasingly expensive as China moves up the hierarchy of needs – it has seen a 35% jump in pet ownership since 2000. Now there are 33 million households with cats or dogs. And the businesses come marching in… as Chinese are reported here to have become more likely to spend and treat their sick pets than putting them down. On keeping pets and Chinese characteristics, does anyone remember Shanghai declaring a one-dog policy last year?

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China Poodle ‘Babies’ Spur $1.2 Billion Pet-Care Market
by Daryl Loo and Naomi Kresege
Source – Bloomberg, published August 17, 2012

About 33 million households in China keep a cat or dog, according to Euromonitor. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg

Wang Xingru and her husband chose a fluffy brown alternative to parenthood named Jing Jing. Before welcoming the year-old toy poodle into their Beijing apartment last summer, the couple spent 5,000 yuan ($786) in veterinary fees, including shots and medication.

This month they paid 288 yuan for a fur-trim, perm and pedicure for the 8-inch-long (20-centimeter) pooch. The treatments add to a pet-care market in China that Euromonitor International Ltd. estimates will reach $1.2 billion this year, helped by a 35 percent jump in pet ownership since 2000.

“We don’t want kids because we feel it’s too expensive and tiring,” said Wang, 39, a legal officer for a state-owned company. “And I don’t want to become a full-time housewife.”

Filed under: Bloomberg, Culture, Domestic Growth, Lifestyle, One-Dog Policy, Pets, Social, The Chinese Identity, China's Rise, culture, Social

Shanghai announces ‘one-dog policy’ [BBC]

One-child to one-dog, this article certainly sees the humour. Two pertinent points, however that were highlighted.

1. Once banned by for being a ‘bourgeois decadence’, keeping a pet dog is now seen as trendy

2. This being China, people will no doubt find a way to get around the rules. When restrictions on the numbers of homes families could own here tried to slow the rise in house prices, there were reports of couples getting divorced but still living together just so they could buy more properties.

Unsurprisingly, this BBC article chose to highlight that British Bulldogs were one of the dogs not welcome under the new rules.

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Shanghai announces ‘one-dog policy’
By Chris Hogg
Source – BBC News, Shanghai, published February 24, 2011

Once banned by for being a 'bourgeois decadence', keeping a pet dog is now seen as trendy. Photo - BBC

The city of Shanghai – which already follows China’s one-child policy – has announced a new rule for households.

From May a one-dog policy will be introduced, and more than 600,000 unlicensed dogs will be declared illegal.

The new regulation has been the subject of long and heated debate among the city’s lawmakers.

Last year more than 140,000 people told police they had been bitten by an unlicensed dog.

There are four times as many dogs without the proper paperwork in Shanghai as there are animals with a permit.

Pooch permits
The new rule means owners whose dogs are not registered with the authorities will have to give them away.

Those who already have two licensed dogs will be able to keep them, but only new applications from households without hounds will be accepted.

Of course, this being China, people will no doubt find a way to get around the rules.

When restrictions on the numbers of homes families could own here were introduced to try to slow the rise in house prices, there were reports of couples getting divorced but still living together just so they could buy more properties.

The police say they are expecting they will have to adopt many of the dogs once they are declared outlaws.

They are also banning the keeping of what they call “attack dogs”.

British bulldogs are among those that will not be welcome here under the new rules.

Filed under: Chinese Model, Culture, Domestic Growth, Environment, Lifestyle, One-Dog Policy, People, Population, Social, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities