First ‘home cat’ reached China 1,400 years ago via Tang dynasty Silk Road

Now, scientists have shed light on the pet’s origin in the country, suggesting its earliest presence dates back to the Tang dynasty (618-907), with its arrival via the Silk Road.

A Tang dynasty provincial governor was recorded as the first person in Chinese history to name his dozens of cats. The avid cat lover also set aside a large area at home to play with them.

Wu Zetian, China’s first and only woman emperor, is also said to have gifted a pet cat to her ministers – a story that is among the oldest written accounts with a clear description of a domestic cat.

In a paper published late last month, an international team of scientists led by Luo Shujin, investigator at Peking University’s school of life sciences, found that the earliest known domestic cat in China was radiocarbon dated to the year 730, during the mid-Tang dynasty.

It was genetically inferred to have been fully or partially white and was excavated from the northwestern Chinese province of Shaanxi, in a hub on the Silk Road.

South China Morning Post