Taiwanese town goes cat crazy
Taiwanese town goes cat crazy
Cats are giving a second life to a decayed Taiwanese coal-mining town that last prospered in the 1970s. This tiny community of 200 people and 100 cats is fast reinventing itself as a cat lover's paradise.
Visitors' raves on local blogs have helped draw dozens of cat lovers to fondle, frolic and photograph the esident felines in Houtong, one of several industrial communities in decline since Taiwan's railroads electrified and oil grew as a power source.
"It was more fun than I imagined," said 31-year-old administrative assistant Yu Li-hsin, who visited from Taipei. "The cats were clean and totally unafraid of people. I'll definitely return."
On a recent weekday afternoon, dozens of white, black, gray and calico-colored cats wandered freely amid Houtong's craggy byways, while visitors memorialized the scene with cell phone cameras and tickled the creatures silly with feather-tipped sticks.
Locals are delighted with the tourist influx, seeing it as an antidote to Houtong's stark decline etched in dozens of abandoned structures and acres of unkempt overgrowth.
Indonesian-born Sumarni, 35, who married a local man six years ago, says she is grateful to the tourists for relieving the town's isolation.
"My 3-year-old daughter gets to play with some children of her age when visitors bring their kids here," she said. "There is really not any playmate of her age in the community."
Sumarni has also benefited financially from the tourist influx, piggybacking it to set up a profitable food stall next to her modest home.
Retiree Chan Bi-yun, 58, takes a lot of the credit for Houtong's feline-induced rebirth.
"I started raising five cats that belonged to a neighbor who passed away nine years ago and they gave birth to more and more kitties," she said. "Now I feed about half of Houtong's cat population."
Chan said most of her proteges wander freely and she provides special help only for abandoned kittens. She also gets assistance from volunteers who provide free veterinary care and cat food.
Like Sumarni, she has profited from the tourist influx, setting up a stall that sells cat-related souvenirs.
Mobile phone dangles with different feline shapes appeared to be a particularly fast mover, though cat-imprinted pursues were giving them a good run for their money.
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- Posted on August 31, 2010
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Meow, which means why are you all crazy about cats. Man do you all have like 10 cats or something. I insist that you should start caring about dogs, because they are awesome.
I love cats so much, but if they just go that crazy? I think it is a pretty neat thing that they did. I have a cat too. I love the big cat posters.
I love cats and kitties and I have one myself, but I wouldn't go that over board. I think that's crazy that they love cats that much. They sure like cats!
I'd LOVE to visit a town like this! I love cats, and a town full of them would be soooooo cool! I don't have a cat, but a lot of my friends do. I hope no one there is allergic to cats there. That would be terrible! I wonder is anyone owns dogs there.
Wow, I like cats but that is way overboard. To do that and go there would be nice for my cat. He would probably die and go to heaven. Not really, but it would be like heaven for him. I wonder if they have any good cat food there?
The main idea of this article was that a whole bunch of cats helped raise this town's tourist industry. I found it interesting that so many people went to this town just to play with the cats because it seems like people like dogs more. I learned that just about anything could revive a town. I think that they should definitely stick to this cat thing because it helped them out a lot and all the cat lovers of the world would want to visit.
Wow that is a lot of cats. I wonder how this all started and who had the brilliant idea why they should start this and what they would get from starting this
wow i like cats and who wouldn't like cat this place would become a cat lovers paradise there a place for cat to be loved there i would love to visit this place
I like cats, that's why I decide to read this article. Maybe some day I will go there and see all the cat's. I hope I go soon, when I am like what 25 years old;]
Wow I like cats but that is way overboard. Too do that and go there would be nice for my cat. He probably die and go to heaven. ( : Not really but it would be like heaven for him.I wonder if they have any good cat food there.