Vancouver author and Chinese history buff Xiran Jay Zhao introduces us to the poetry of Lu You, who lived 800 years ago. A few of his poems, written over a span of years, tells how he became a cat person simply by getting one cat to protect his books from rats.
decided to do a separate thread for this so here we go: how Song dynasty poet Lu You poem-liveblogged his descent from cat owner to cat slave 800 years ago
— XIRAN, Chinese History Educational Memer (@XiranJayZhao) August 28, 2020
The year is 1183. Down On His Luck scholar-official Lu You gets a cat because rats keep munching on his books. 1/? pic.twitter.com/MdMgVdiY5V
Subsequent poems hint that the cat later gets fish to eat, and then a rug to sleep on, and even catnip. Then come more cats. Eventually (we don't know if it's the same cat) his cat doesn't even bother with rats, and Lu You doesn't mind because he has become a cat person. But that's not the only term that could be used.
thank you for the hella vintage cat content!!!
— isweedan (@isweedan) August 28, 2020
Read the entire sequence (eight poems) in this Twitter thread, or at Threadreader. Those who have cats will understand completely. -via Metafilter