With increasing urbanization, countries like China have seen pet ownership skyrocket, and cats have become especially popular. One of the nation’s most well-known native cats is the líhuā māo, or “leopard cat patterned cat,” a breed featured in Chinese folklore and now called the Dragon Li. This breed, developed from a common landrace of cats in China, raises a natural question: how did cats first arrive in the region?
Domestic cats first began living alongside humans around 10,000 years ago in what is now Turkey, and later spread to Europe through trade. However, their eastward migration has long remained a scientific mystery—until recently, when researchers corrected a previous misidentification.
In a recent study published on bioRxiv, researchers identified the first known cat in the region, dating from 706 to 883 CE during the Tang Dynasty. Genetic analysis shockingly revealed that the cat was genetically linked to a domestic cat from Kazakhstan and likely arrived via a dispersal route along the Silk Road.
This finding led scientists to correct earlier assumptions. For years, scientists believed that domestic cats lived in China by the late Neolithic Era, based on the remains of a felid found at a 5,400-year-old site in Western China. However, further genetic and morphological research showed those remains instead belonged to leopard cats, non-domesticated felids native to South, Southeast, and East Asia.
To uncover the origins of true domesticated cats in China, researchers intensely studied 22 feline bones from 14 archeological sites spanning 5,000 years. All domestic cats in the study carry a genetic marker known as clade IV-B, also identified in a medieval cat from Kazakhstan (775–940 CE)—the oldest-known house cat found along the Silk Road. Scientists were then able to conclude that Chinese domestic cats originated in the Middle East and arrived through the Silk Road trade.
This research not only clears up the longstanding question of when exactly cats like the ones we know today began living with humans, but also emphasizes the significance of cultural exchanges and how animals moved with humans across continents.
A recent study has shown that domestic cats likely arrived in China during the Tang Dynasty via the Silk Road.
Earlier remains presumed to be house cats were found to be wild leopard cats.
Researchers found a genetic marker linking Chinese cats to the Middle East, suggesting they originated there.
Sources: A New Study Finds That Domestic Cats Traveled the Silk Road to China About 1,400 Years Ago; Silk Road merchants may have introduced cats to China 1400 years ago
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