Lao She's Sci-Fi Novel "Cat Country" Foresaw and Satirized Disordered Modern Civilization
Lao She's "Cat Country," his first science fiction novel written in the 1930s, has been re-published in Taiwan, showcasing its prescient satire of disordered modern civilization. This allegorical work, depicting a society immersed in pleasure and institutional collapse, brings nearly 100-year-old insights to the present day.
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- 📰 Published: May 8, 2026 at 13:21
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Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Chiu Tsu-yin, Taipei, 8th) The late Chinese novelist Lao She, famous for "Camel Xiangzi," wrote his first science fiction novel "Cat Country" in the 1930s, satirizing disordered modern civilization with prescient insight. It has recently been re-published in Taiwan, bringing nearly 100-year-old foresight back to light.
According to new book information released by United Literature Publishing House, "Cat Country" uses an allegorical form, through absurd plots and peculiar social systems, to profoundly satirize the crisis of civilization brought about by indulgence in pleasure and institutional disorder. After 1949, it was once criticized and long banned. However, it has been translated into more than ten languages abroad, including English, Japanese, French, and Russian, and its international influence is comparable to "Camel Xiangzi."
Writer Lin Hsiu-he wrote an introduction for the new edition of "Cat Country," titled "Mars Teahouse, Catman Xiangzi - To the Failed Eternal Classic 'Cat Country,'" stating that "Cat Country," like Japanese writer Yukio Mishima's only full-length science fiction novel "The Beautiful Star," shows how two literary masters incorporated science fiction into their creations, combining political satire and national allegory, thereby enhancing the humanistic depth and critical power of science fiction novels.
Lin Hsiu-he believes that "Cat Country" predates "The Beautiful Star" by a full 30 years and is the first Chinese science fiction novel to go global, with various language versions appearing very early. It can be said to be the most well-known Chinese science fiction novel in the West before Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem."
"Cat Country" describes a Martian airplane crash, where the Earthling "I" accidentally falls into the mysterious "Cat Country." It turns out that Mars is inhabited by upright-walking "cat people" who are madly obsessed with a hallucinogenic drug called "miye" (迷葉), known as "national food." Gradually, "I" learns "cat language" and begins to understand the society and history of Cat Country.
Cat Country had a long civilization but indulged in miye, neglected production, and even basic order collapsed, becoming a country with schools but no education, politicians but no politics, people but no personality. As enemy armies pressed in, the cat people instead fought among themselves, eventually leading to their extinction.
The book includes Lao She's own essay, "How I Wrote 'Cat Country,'" in which he directly states that the reason for writing this book was "disappointment with national affairs." He believed that a completely thoughtless person could find food in a dung heap, while a truly thoughtful person would not settle for this dung heap. A half-baked person would try to maintain this dung heap and advise flies, "This place is unsanitary." He considered himself to be the latter. (Editor: Chen Jen-hua) 1150508
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(Central News Agency reporter Chiu Tsu-yin, Taipei, 8th) The late Chinese novelist Lao She, famous for "Camel Xiangzi," wrote his first science fiction novel "Cat Country" in the 1930s, satirizing disordered modern civilization with prescient insight. It has recently been re-published in Taiwan, bringing nearly 100-year-old foresight back to light.
According to new book information released by United Literature Publishing House, "Cat Country" uses an allegorical form, through absurd plots and peculiar social systems, to profoundly satirize the crisis of civilization brought about by indulgence in pleasure and institutional disorder. After 1949, it was once criticized and long banned. However, it has been translated into more than ten languages abroad, including English, Japanese, French, and Russian, and its international influence is comparable to "Camel Xiangzi."
Writer Lin Hsiu-he wrote an introduction for the new edition of "Cat Country," titled "Mars Teahouse, Catman Xiangzi - To the Failed Eternal Classic 'Cat Country,'" stating that "Cat Country," like Japanese writer Yukio Mishima's only full-length science fiction novel "The Beautiful Star," shows how two literary masters incorporated science fiction into their creations, combining political satire and national allegory, thereby enhancing the humanistic depth and critical power of science fiction novels.
Lin Hsiu-he believes that "Cat Country" predates "The Beautiful Star" by a full 30 years and is the first Chinese science fiction novel to go global, with various language versions appearing very early. It can be said to be the most well-known Chinese science fiction novel in the West before Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem."
"Cat Country" describes a Martian airplane crash, where the Earthling "I" accidentally falls into the mysterious "Cat Country." It turns out that Mars is inhabited by upright-walking "cat people" who are madly obsessed with a hallucinogenic drug called "miye" (迷葉), known as "national food." Gradually, "I" learns "cat language" and begins to understand the society and history of Cat Country.
Cat Country had a long civilization but indulged in miye, neglected production, and even basic order collapsed, becoming a country with schools but no education, politicians but no politics, people but no personality. As enemy armies pressed in, the cat people instead fought among themselves, eventually leading to their extinction.
The book includes Lao She's own essay, "How I Wrote 'Cat Country,'" in which he directly states that the reason for writing this book was "disappointment with national affairs." He believed that a completely thoughtless person could find food in a dung heap, while a truly thoughtful person would not settle for this dung heap. A half-baked person would try to maintain this dung heap and advise flies, "This place is unsanitary." He considered himself to be the latter. (Editor: Chen Jen-hua) 1150508
Choose to stand with facts, every sponsorship you make is a force to protect press freedom.
Download the Central News Agency "First-hand News" APP to get the latest news instantly.
Text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.