A border collie lives in a half-million-dollar mansion in Beijing as an example of China's growing pet culture, and some say the country's booming economy has created an environment where owners lavish their animals with amenities, The Washington Post reported.
Zhou Tianxiao, 31, fell in love with his dog Sylar after buying him from a pet shop, the Post wrote. His videos of Sylar on China's video social media platform Meipai eventually earned millions of views and made him a star, the Post wrote.
"Before I had Sylar, I had nothing to live for," Zhou said, according to the Post. "He gave me a purpose."
He named the dog after a character in the former NBC series "Heroes."
Zhou used his newfound fame to find an old warehouse in an upscale Beijing suburb and renovate it into a doggie mansion for Sylar, the Post noted. Liu Wei, Zhou's 37-year-old girlfriend, helps him manage the staff of 10 at the mansion, which includes a medicinal bath, pool, personal backyard and giant pillows, according to the newspaper.
"(Before Sylar, Zhou) was lazy and spent most of his waking hours playing video games," Liu said, according to the Post. "He's now enterprising and conscientious."
The South China Morning Post reported earlier this year that Chinese consumers spent $2.8 billion on their pets in 2017 as entrepreneurs start to take advantage of the country's booming pet market.
According to Euromonitor, that number is expected to more than double by 2022, the Morning Post said in February. These amenities have included brisk business for pet hotels, dog spas, and pet massages, the Morning Post said.
"Ten years ago, people just looked to take care of their pets' basic needs, but as people are getting wealthier, they want better services," Cole Tu, who owns five BlueBone spas for pets, told the South China Morning Post. "Some of my clients even told me that they just want to have pets instead of having a baby. This is a big change in China."
At BlueBone, Tu told the Morning Post he offers "five-star meals" for dogs in his own private villa in Shanghai, trains his employees to give dog massages in addition to grooming services and lavish birthday parties.
The Washington Post wrote that the pet trend is a departure from five decades ago, when Chairman Mao's Red Guards killed pet dogs, which were considered a "bourgeois" accessory of Western values Chinese leaders then wanted to rid the country of.
Amy Huilin Tsang, a sociologist who studies Chinese class identity, told the Post that pets are now seen as sort of a "fashion statement" and China's former one-child policy has led some to spoil their pets with attention and gifts.
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