狗年也无法阻止中国的单身狗每天吸猫千百回

HANGZHOU - Zhou Shuaibo loves sniffing his orange tabby cat and spends hours playing with it every day.

杭州的周帅博喜欢闻他那只橙色的虎斑猫，每天花几个小时逗猫玩。

Burying his face in the fluffy body of his cat and inhaling deeply while stroking its tummy, Zhou is one of China’s many "cat sniffers," a term coined for those who obsessively smell and cuddle their cats, often multiple times a day, Xinhua reported.

据新华社报道，周童鞋是中国众多“吸猫铲屎官”中的一员，他把脸埋在毛茸茸的猫身上，用力嗅着猫肚子，这也正是中国的一个新词“吸猫”。

As a veteran cat sniffer, if I don’t get my fix I feel absolutely terrible.I have a serious cat addiction, says another cat-lover on Zhihu, China’s version of Quora.

“作为一个晚期的吸猫铲屎官，如果一天不吸猫，就会感觉非常糟糕。我有严重的猫瘾，”另一位在中国版Quora（就是知乎啦）上的猫奴说。

From clothes to mobile phone covers designed with cat pictures, Zhou’s life is all about cats.

从衣服到用猫画设计的手机套，周的生活全是关于猫的。

My wife and I are not ready to have a child, so we give all our love to our cat, says Zhou, 30, who works for a film company in east China’s Zhejiang province.

30岁的周先生在中国东部浙江省的一家电影公司工作，他说：“我和我的妻子还没有准备好要孩子，所以我们把所有的爱都献给了我们的猫”。

He added that he will buy anything related to cats.

他还说，他会买与猫有关的任何东西。

My cat has supreme status at home, Zhou says.

周先生说，“我的猫在家里有至高无上的地位。”

In addition to raising a real cat at home, Zhou also pores over photographs and videos of cats shared by other cat owners online.

除了在家里养一只真正的猫，周还在网上浏览其他猫主人分享的猫的照片和视频。

According to Xinhua, the online phenomenon is known as "cloud cats", where avid cat fans constantly check their social media throughout the day.

据新华社报道，这一网络现象被称为“云养猫”，狂热的猫迷们会整天不断查看他们的社交媒体。

Sometimes their passion is so strong that they even come to see other people’s cats as their own.

有时他们如此狂热，甚至会把别人的猫当成自己的。

On Zhihu, there are about 180,000 followers of posts on cats, double the number of people who follow posts about dogs, Xinhua said.

新华社说，在知乎，大约有18万名关注猫的帖子的粉丝，是关注狗帖子的人的两倍。

Raising cats reflects a bigger trend in China, where it is a lifestyle that is heavily focused on China’s "empty nest youth", the term used to describe single or unmarried people who live alone in major cities.

在中国，养猫反映出一种更大的趋势。在中国，这种生活方式主要集中在中国“空巢青年”上。“空巢青年”指的是单身或未婚独居在大城市的单身人士。

Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao sold nearly 10 billion yuan (S$2.06 billion) of cat-related products in 2017, Xinhua said, citing a report released by Alibaba.

新华社援引阿里巴巴发布的一份报告称，中国电子商务平台淘宝网在2017年销售了近100亿元（合20.6亿美元）与猫有关的产品。

About 17,000 cat-related products are found on the website and some of those include cat food, clothes and accessories.

在该网站上发现了大约17,000种与猫有关的产品，其中包括猫粮、衣服和配饰。

For example, more than 250,000 cat hair removal gloves were sold on Taobao last year.

例如，去年淘宝上售出了25万多只猫毛清理手套。

Du Fang, who works in a financial firm in Shanghai, spends almost 10,000 yuan - about one-fifth of his monthly salary - on his American shorthair cat every month.

在上海一家金融公司工作的杜方，每个月花近1万元他的美国短毛猫身上，约占他每月工资的五分之一。

My cat eats salmon and vitamins every day, Du says.

“我的猫每天吃鲑鱼和维生素，”杜说。

A bag of cat food imported from Canada is 760 yuan, and the cat litter is made of tofu.

“从加拿大进口的一袋猫粮是760元，猫砂是用豆腐做的。”

I do not care how much I spend.I want my cat to be happy, Du added.

“我不在乎我花了多少钱。”我想让我的猫开心。”杜补充道。

According to Xinhua, Alibaba’s report said China’s youth were more willing to spend on novel products for their cats, such as automatic cat toilets and intelligent water dispensers.

据新华社报道，阿里巴巴的报告称，中国的年轻人更愿意为他们的猫购买新奇的产品，比如自动化的猫厕和智能饮水机。

The popularity of cats has even spilled over into cat-themed cafes.

猫的流行甚至蔓延到猫主题咖啡馆。

The coffee may taste bad in these shops where many cats are raised, but they are popular among Chinese youth and have become good places to make friends, says Zhang Xuechen, who recently spent 15,000 yuan buying a cat.

张雪晨说：“在那些养猫的商店里，咖啡可能味道不好，但它们在中国年轻人中很受欢迎，而且已经成为交友的好地方。”最近ta花了15,000元买了一只猫。

China’s "empty nest youth" form a large part of the growing population obsessed with cats, many of whom, while working in China’s big cities far away from their families, find companionship in both virtual and real pets, Xinhua said.

新华社说，中国“空巢青年”在日益增长的中国人口中占有很大比例，他们中很多人在远离家人的大城市工作，在虚拟和现实的宠物中寻个伴。

For the time being at least, many youth have gone cat crazy.

至少在目前，很多年轻人都无猫不欢。