Current location:entertainment >>
Doggy ballgowns, surveillance tech and cloning services for sale at China pet fair
entertainment49People have gathered around
IntroductionA shimmering, 1.5-metre-long golden ballgown stood pride of place in a Shanghai exhibition hall Thur ...
A shimmering, 1.5-metre-long golden ballgown stood pride of place in a Shanghai exhibition hall Thursday — and for the cool price of US$13,700, your dog could be the lucky animal to leave Pet Fair Asia wearing it.
The plethora of luxury and sophisticated gadgets on display at the show, the region’s largest, is testament to the consumer power of China’s expanding class of young, tech-savvy pet owners.
From robot companions to AI-powered health-monitoring wearables, animal welfare is a lucrative industry — and if all else fails, cloning a beloved pet is also an option in China these days.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe $13,700 dog dress — which comes with a matching tiara — is hand-embroidered and designed for a canine wedding, stall manager Sun Chao told AFP, adding they usually got around a few dozen orders a year for such designs.
“The overall economic environment in our country in the past few years has not been very good, but the pet market is in a league of its own,” said Sun.
The industry is projected to grow 68 percent to 811 billion yuan ($112 billion) by 2025, according to iiMedia Research.
‘Together forever’ with tech
Pet Fair Asia is taking place over several days, with organisers saying its scale this year is unprecedented.
It features more than 2,000 exhibitors selling items as varied as tofu cat litter, desiccated treefrog snacks and dog doughnuts and macarons.
In a nod to the region’s intense work culture, remote surveillance devices were a common sight, allowing busy owners to monitor their pets from afar.
Embed from Getty ImagesOne US$169 robot can follow animals around, feed them, amuse them with a laser or broadcast their owner’s voice.
The next iteration will use artificial intelligence to help interpret the pet’s movements and react accordingly.
Technology is even being applied to overcoming death.
At Chinese company Sinogene’s stall, visitors crowded around a cage of identical frisky terriers wearing harnesses that read “I am a clone dog”.
The firm is one of the few in the world offering animal cloning services — enabling pets and their owners to be “together forever”, as its tagline states.
A representative named Dai told AFP they had cloned around 500 animals for Chinese customers since they began in 2017, including some for the country’s security services.
It costs between US$30,000 and US$60,000 to clone a dog, depending on its breed.
At the beginning, said Dai, the business was met with wariness from consumers.
Embed from Getty Images“But with the development of the economy and people’s dependence on pets… people have slowly begun to familiarise themselves with and accept cloning,” he said.
While most of the show catered to cats and dogs, there were signs that more exotic tastes were beginning to take off.
Eager to appeal to pet lovers with cash to burn, an electric car company led an unimpressed-looking alpaca around as they gave out leaflets and stickers.
In one exhibition hall, a kaleidoscope of snakes squirmed in small plastic takeaway containers, and a small scrum formed around a box full of meerkats.
Meanwhile, a capybara studiously ignored showgoers’ overtures as it munched its way through its grass bedding.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Worldly Whispers news portal”。http://cameroon.campingcolorado.net/content-04b699897.html
Related articles
Burglar hurled stolen mobile phones at police from the top of 60ft high roof during nine
entertainmentA burglar hurled stolen mobile phones at police officers from the top of a roof during a nine-hour s ...
Read moreSpirit down Dash 3
entertainmentThe Washington Spirit scored all of their goals in the second half for a 3-1 victory over the Housto ...
Read moreLower Hutt long
entertainmentLower Hutt City Council Photo: RNZ / Ana Tovey ...
Read more
Popular articles
- Kevin Pillar gets 1,000th career hit in Angels' win at Texas
- Couple waits for categorisation of flood
- Property at centre of North Shore walkway stoush now up for sale
- Swedish alarm after defence chiefs' war warning
- Revealed: Brit tourist, 19, subjected to sex attack in Majorca 'was gang
- Number of reported scams drops, but 'underreporting is still happening'
Latest articles
Hollywood star Shia LaBeouf is spotted on the streets of Gavin and Stacey's hometown Barry
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters praises US engagement in the Pacific
Wastewater testing reveals alcohol consumption higher in smaller towns
Chris Christie drops out of Republican White House race
Medics remove 150 MAGGOTS from a woman's mouth after dental procedure left her with rotting tissue
Hong Kong denies entry to campaigner en route to Jimmy Lai trial — Radio Free Asia
LINKS
- In China, a factory is turning old wedding photographs into fuel
- Jimmy Lai provided HK$1.5 million loan to activists, court hears
- Doggy ballgowns, surveillance tech and cloning services for sale at China pet fair
- North Korea's Kim Jong Un turns 40 ... maybe
- Lower Hutt long
- Hong Kong denies entry to campaigner en route to Jimmy Lai trial — Radio Free Asia
- Julian Assange too ill to attend as court hears of 'breathtaking' plot to poison him
- Robert Kennedy Jr apologises to family over Super Bowl ad
- Hamas weighs ceasefire proposal
- Greek vessel hit by missile in Red Sea attack