Cat owners bring their pets to Shanghai Museum’s ancient Egypt exhibit celebrating them

A queue of glamorous visitors stood outside Shanghai Museum, in China, twitching impatiently, tails flicking and whiskers quivering as they waited to be let in for the institution’s inaugural ancient Egypt cat night.

Feline tickets for the event, in July 2024, sold out within days, as Shanghai’s devoted pet owners seized the chance to share an educational experience with their animals – and share the photos on the mostly pedigree cats’ personal social media accounts.

One pet owner said she had postponed a trip to Europe to ensure she could nab one of the 200 available tickets for her regal ginger “son”.

Trump – named for his physical and psychological resemblance to the US presidential candidate – was dressed as a Chinese emperor, and blinked haughtily as journalists flocked around him with cameras.

“I cannot imagine my life right now without a cat,” said his owner Amy. “So I really can have the same feeling why Egyptian persons, they valued cats on such a level.”

Shanghai Museum is capitalising on that interest – the recent event, heralded as a first in China, is just one of 10 planned cat nights.

As the guests of honour filed in, perched on shoulders or peering out of handbags, they had their vaccination and insurance records checked before they were transferred into a fleet of specially designed kitten-eared prams.

Claire, who had dressed herself and her German Rex Tiedan in matching Egyptian costumes, said the exhibition showed “cats have always been humans’ good friends”.

Cats were considered sacred in ancient Egypt, and associated in particular with Bastet, a goddess of fertility, birth and protection.

“In the modern world, kitties are a symbol of cuteness, which is very different from [ancient Egypt],” said a young woman named Feifei, clutching a resplendent white fur ball named Sticky Rice.

That cuteness has led to a surge in feline influencers and hopefuls.

A section on Saqqara, a historic necropolis where archaeologists recently unearthed dozens of cat mummies and artefacts from a newly discovered tomb, was filled with confused mews as the star visitors were photographed next to a Bastet statue.

“There are many ancestors of cats here, I wanted to bring [Sticky Rice] to have a look,” said Feifei.

Like most of his fellow felines, Sticky Rice seemed largely unmoved by the historical experience.