It seems that between people and cats there exist many ties and spiritual connections that cannot be expressed. So many cat lovers say. What do you believe?
Everyone in Taiwan's small theater circles knows of cat lover Tai Yueh and her husband Donald Brix, who sent Tai a cat, taught her to raise it and eventually married her. Equally well-known are their five cats ("children"), four of which were originally strays, who even appeared on the Brixes wedding invitation, offering congratulations to the new couple.
Tai, Donald and their "Moonlight Cats"
Three years ago, a crazy idea helped bring Tai Yueh and her three cats to the stage for their first performance of the experimental fantasy, "Moonlight Cats." One part of the play involves three cats fighting for fish Tai Yueh feeds them. Don, working backstage with the cat actors, was impressed that when the time came, all the cats knew that turning out the lights was their cue to run out and begin their feast!
The success of "Moonlight Cats" should be credited to the degree of empathy and understanding gradually developed between the cats and the Brixes.
One of a row of two-story houses lying at the foot of a mountain, the Brixes' new home is located at the end of a twisting road that runs along Waishuanghsi. Walking in the door, the Brixes' five cats all converge about the heels of their new guest. Although wary of the unfamiliar presence, the cats still maintain the relaxed, comfortable manner one expects of a host. In fact, the cats' memories of their stray past now seem distant; under Tai Yueh and Don's care they have actually managed to develop a certain amount of trust in humans.
Two tiger-striped cats, the first to fall into the Brixes' lives, are a brother-sister pair named for an existentialist and a feminist: Paul (Sartre) and Simone (de Beauvoir).
True to his name, Paul, who likes to sit before the windows and reflect, is the typical gentleman scholar. His genteel meow has earned him the nickname "Little Lamb." Simone is the shrewdest of the female cats in the house, possessing all the qualities and clever tricks that make a good queen. After the Brixes once took in a female stray named "Kamimi," Simone would slyly wait for moments when her "Mommy" and "Daddy" were not paying attention to challenge Kamimi to wild life-or-death battles. Fortunately, Kamimi was given away at the end of "Moonlight Cats," putting an end to the "women's war" between her and Simone.
Daddy's shoulders are the territory of "Bull," a yellow striped cat with a white belly. According to Don, a scholar of Chinese art history, a careful look at his striping reveals that: "He carries another cat on his back, and the two cats share the same tail"-a striking work of impressionism. The fur on Bull's forehead is also parted symmetrically in the middle, giving him a more mature look. Pointing to her bangs, Tai Yueh says, "I got this style from Bull." Bull sometimes helps Don "wash his hair" and also likes to climb up on people and "breast feed." Guests wearing cotton clothes beware.
The Brixes jokingly refer to their roles as those of the "strict father" and the "kindly mother." Cats need appropriate instruction before they can learn the manners they need to live harmoniously with humans. The Brixes believe that "treating cats as people," fostering mutual trust and mutual love, is a prerequisite for the cats "being able to treat people as cats."
Tai Yueh and Don have become cat experts in the eyes of their friends. A single phone call can resolve any of the doubts or problems friends might have in the raising of cats. In the future, the Brixes would like to have a real family of their own, a home in a natural environment that they can become attached to, and a garden for their pets to play. They believe that all living things deserve loving treatment and respect.
Lin Chun-chun's "Cats"
Illustrator Lin Chun-chun's "cats" are very lifelike. Walking in the door, guests are greeted by a Chagall-style stuffed cat sitting on a wooden chair. Two sleek-bodied silver cats, not easily broken, occupy a seat of honor atop the TV. Coasters on a coffee tray Lin carries bear the images of lively black cats. And in any of the drawers in Lin's house, one will find handicrafts collected by her good friends from around the world depicting cats in various elegant positions.
Lin Chun-chun picks out a piece of cat art that is missing the tip of its ear. She has made an exception to her philosophy of "always discarding worn out things" because she likes this cat's design. To her, these "cats" are not so much collectibles as they are a kind of daily necessity.
A group of white clay cats stands out from among Lin's crowd of competing pieces, radiating its own quiet, seductive charm. Each of the cats is small enough to be held in the palm of the hand. They are solid and round with no sharp corners. Profound and mysterious, the cats lack any expression in their eyes-it is impossible to tell where they are gazing.
The white clay cats are actually one of Lin's own works. A student of sculpture, Lin once fell on hard times in her career. But, by creating cats, she managed to fight through the low points and persevere. Working and working, Lin has become focused in her desire to bring out the aesthetic experience in her work. Cat philosophy is interpreted at her fingertips, both in stillness and in motion, hitting the mark every time.
Though the white clay cats are on display in the "Cat Room," there is no sign of the "real" cats Lin raises here-tiger-striped "Miao-miao" and the tri-colored pair "Skinny" and "Cubic." Actually, the "Cat Room," serves mostly as either the cats' "jail" when they bother Lin Chun-chun while she is drawing, or as a warm place to stay in the winter. Now that it is summer, there's no telling where they've gone in search of a spot to cool off.
In order to coexist peacefully with the cats, there are no rugs in Lin's house and an effort is made to keep furnishings low to the ground. The porch is enclosed in glass, perfect for cats to sit and think in, yet eliminating worries that they might slip out to wander. Along the pathway from the kitchen to the litter box there is a small door set in the normal door, convenient for the cats' comings and goings.
Lin Chun-chun's cats have their own philosophy of life, with which their master must not interfere. Lin fed the cats a ham feast the day before this interview in an attempt to ensure their attendance. The cats happily accepted their bribe, but refused to show up. As Lin said with a great sigh, "Raising cats refines your patience and cultivates your character."
Indeed, Lin often suspects that her cats look down on her. "Mimi," a Siamese who has since passed away, used to sit with Lin Chun-chun and watch TV. When Mimi became a bit older, she suddenly took off to sit with Lin's father, taking on a new expression of authority.
Miao-miao was a stray kitten, taken in and raised by Lin. She never learned to rub her nose or body against objects or to purr, and her health requires frequent visits to the vet. It seems that Miao-miao has a sixth sense, for she can immediately tell when Lin is entertaining "evil thoughts." Miao-miao hisses and scratches in an effort to keep from going to the vet, and Lin usually ends up locked in a vicious battle with the cat. In the end, Lin always wins, but she pays a serious price-both of her hands are covered with scratches and scars. After leaving the house, Miao-miao calmly accepts her fate, becoming a veterinarian's model patient. It's clear to Lin that "the only person she mistreats is her master."
All of this fuss seems outrageous to Lin Chun-chun's parents. They vehemently opposed Lin ten years ago, when she wanted to keep Mimi as a pet. Lin had to threaten to move out with the cat before her parents backed down. And when Lin took in Miao-miao five years ago, her mother still wondered: "Why is it that you only keep the mangy street-wandering strays?"
But, cats are something that people grow to love. After spending time together, the cute innocence of cats and their endearing dependence on people eventually caused a change of heart in Lin's folks. A "Guide to Raising Cats" was posted on the dining room wall, and while Lin Chun-chun was out of the country, "Grandma" and "Grandpa" took on the responsibility of caring for the cats. Lin even made little notes in red pen to remind her mother to "always feed Miao-miao in my bedroom." After Mimi died, mother and daughter cried for an entire day while Lin's father, not knowing what else to do, sat silently folding endless little paper table-scrap boxes.
Why does she love cats so much? Lin herself is not even sure. Lin's interpretation of her contradictory relationship with cats is that "it's kind of twisted, just like love."
Shin Dai and the good life
Shin Dai, a female author whose name is nearly equivalent with the words "cat lover" in Taiwan, has recently met with a trying period of bereavement. Previously always found cradled in her arms, Shin Dai's feline companions "Kitty," a Siamese, and "Darling," a tiger-striped, have recently made their exits from the world. Their ashes spread over the waters of Pitan Lake, the cats have now returned to the natural world from whence they came.
"Cats are the world's treasures, and cat lovers are the most fortunate souls on earth." Shin Dai, who invited cat lovers across Taiwan to form a cat lovers' club five years ago in her book "Cat Business," emblazoned the text's cover with this now well-known rumination on the aesthetics of cat-loving. Shin Dai is even closer to her cats than she is to other people. They are the source of all her pleasure and art, her definition of "the good life."
But, how does Shin Dai manage to get by after losing two cats she loved?
"It hurt so much I couldn't go on. Life had lost all its interest." Not only did Shin Dai feel powerless to improve the quality of Taiwan's animal care or influence animal rights and environmental issues, she felt the "loss" that accompanies "love," and it was too difficult to bear. Thus, to avoid having to endure the same hardship in the future, Shin decided never to take on feline companions again.
But then, when Shin Dai was least expecting it, the endlessly turning wheel of life once again magically reversed its direction.
As fate would have it, Shin Dai crossed paths with another four cats in one year. "Darling," once a white kitten small enough to hold in the palm of the hand, now roams about with a big, waddling belly. Her experience of being abandoned as a kitten clearly had no effect on her curiosity. This can be credited to the excellent work of the "Cat Nanny" Shin Dai. "I was pretty flustered at first because I hadn't raised a cat from a kitten in a long time," recalls Shin with a smile.
In addition to her other work, Shin Dai, who was raised with cats as a child, began to collect cat art and write books about cats as an adult in an effort to bring herself closer to cats. Founding the Taipei Cat Lovers' Club and publishing a magazine were then about "getting back to the root of life. It was the first stop on the way to a genuine existence... It was like boarding a train bound for a land of dreams." Shin wrote these words for the mission statement of the first issue of her magazine Mao.
The train is now on its way, but it's not time to get off yet.
Over 900 entries were submitted in less than two months to one "Cat Day" event, an "Everybody Draw Cats!" competition. The enthusiasm of cat fans is also revealed in the volumes of mail that Shin receives in the Taipei Cat Lovers' Club mailbox every month. Shin Dai even has several long-term projects in the works, like a genealogy of Taiwan cats and a Taiwan cat census.
Although this work is supported by both volunteers and some meager funding from Cat Lovers' Club membership fees, in the end, most of the financial responsibility still falls to Shin Dai. It is frequently difficult to put out Mao, but as Shin says, "When there's money, we just get it out quick. We've never missed an issue or sacrificed the quality."
Presently, Shin Dai's greatest ambition is to gather the necessary backing to set up a cat museum. Not only does she want to find a home for her collection of cat knick-knacks, she also wants to have a base from which she can continue research and publication, a means to concentrate the energies of ever greater numbers of cat lovers on enriching the lives of cats.
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(left)Five "cat children" come to present their best wishes. (photo courtesy of Donald Brix and Tai Yueh)
(right)The prince, princess, and their beloved cats live happily ever after.
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The cats of Lin Chun-chun are not collector's items but life companions.
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"Cat got your tongue?" Does this cat woman at a costume party grab your attention? (courtesy of Lin Chun-chun)
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In Taiwan, the subject of cats always calls to mind Shin Dai. In her writings, she describes her deep feelings for cats and the understanding shared by fellow cat lovers. (photo by Liu Shu-chuan)
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Many cat lovers acquire more and more cats as time goes by. This is the home of one young cat mama and her 11 beloved felines.
"Cat got your tongue?" Does this cat woman at a costume party grab your attention? （courtesy of Lin Chun-chun）
In Taiwan, the subject of cats always calls to mind Shin Dai. In her writings, she describes her deep feelings for cats and the understanding shared by fellow cat lovers. （photo by Liu Shu-chuan）
Many cat lovers acquire more and more cats as time goes by. This is the home of one young cat mama and her 11 beloved felines.
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