Cat Country

Cat Country (貓城記Māo Chéng Jì)

Written by Lao She (老舍Lǎo Shě), this landmark 1930s satirical sci-fi follows a Chinese explorer who crash-lands on Mars and discovers a decaying civilization of cat-human hybrids. The cat people’s society collapses under mass addiction to the narcotic Mi-leaf, endless petty partisan infighting, hollow corrupted education, cowardly military forces, and universal muddleheadedness—Lao She’s core metaphor for the fatal spiritual sicknesses plaguing crisis-era 1930s China. The title literally translates to “Record of the Cat City”, framing Mars’ feline realm as an allegorical mirror of his motherland’s social rot.

Born in 1899 and deceased in 1966, Lao She is one of China’s most celebrated modern literary giants. His iconic works include Rickshaw Boy and the stage masterpiece Teahouse, famed for sharp social critique, folksy realism and savage Swift-esque satire. This dystopian novel stands as his boldest experimental work. Key figures: the unnamed Earth narrator, his cynical Cat-Man guide Little Scorpion, and the opportunistic landlord Great Scorpion, who exploits the nation’s Mi-leaf addiction for wealth and power.

Its enduring power stems from timeless universal commentary on addiction, moral apathy, empty political factionalism and cultural self-destruction—resonating far beyond its 1930s Chinese context. This exclusive new translation by Arthur Peng abandons outdated prior English renderings, returning strictly to Lao She’s original 1933 Chinese text. It preserves the layered bleak lyricism and dark wit of his prose, with annotated cultural context to help global readers grasp the book’s layered allegory, granting worldwide audiences unfiltered access to this vital, underappreciated Chinese dystopian classic.