The model poses before the cameras as she averts her eyes from the prying lenses and turns her head gracefully in another direction. Then, all of a sudden, she jumps onto the nearby roof and vanishes without a trace, leaving the crowd somewhat disappointed, but not angry. “That’s just what cats do,” shrugged one of the photographers.
Cameramen love these cats. “A mother cat gave birth here just yesterday, with the visitors and their cameras gazing,” said Peggy Chien, a photographer and cat lover. “Animals do that only when they feel completely safe and at home,” added Chien, whose husband is a veterinarian.
The “home” she refers to is an unlikely one: the former coal mining town of Houtong. Located in the northeast corner of Taipei County, the small mountainous community prospered for a while in the 1970s, thanks to its gold mines and coal mines. But when the gold ran out, and when cheaper, imported coal drove the Houtong coal-mining industry out of business in 1990, an inevitable period of decline set in.
“The population plummeted from over 3,000 to fewer than 100 in just a few years,” said Lee Tsung-kwei, head of the Taipei County Tourism and Travel Bureau.
“I was only 16 when I worked in the mines,” said Houtong’s Guangfu Ward chief Chou Chin-yi. “Back then, they needed many young bucks to carry the coal. But the mines died out as quickly as they had come to life.”
Now, after nearly 20 years of hibernation, the neighborhood of some 30 families has regained some of its old vitality and is now capturing the spotlight, thanks to loving villagers, amateur photographers—and hordes of cats.
“Houtong used to receive only around 600 visitors a month, but everything changed after the cat village became an overnight sensation,” said the Tourism Bureau director. “With help from the newly launched Coal Mine Museum, the number of tourists skyrocketed to 45,000 this July. It’s just phenomenal.”
How long does it take for a ghost town to become a hot scenic spot? “It was nearly three years ago when I started posting photos of Houtong cats on my blog,” Chien recalled. Readers of her blog would pass it along to their friends, who would then pass it to their friends.
More and more photographers and cat lovers visited Houtong in person. And before anyone knew it, the small town had become a mecca for cat fans.
It all started in the Guangfu Ward with four families, who had been feeding the cats for years out of good will. Their love was such that they gave individual names to every single one of the more than 100 resident cats in their charge.
The neighborhood’s winding stairways keep motorists away, and as a result the area has long been blessed with serenity and clean air. It is a perfect nest for the cats, who love to hide behind the walls from time to time.
“Most stray cats flee immediately at the sight of humans. Rarely do they allow us to look at them, not to mention letting their pictures be taken. Here, cats simply live with the villagers in peace,” said Chien, marveling at how different the Houtong felines are.
Chien and her friends fell so deeply in love with the cats that they formed a volunteer squad to tend to them and the local environment. They helped keep track of the furry residents as well, and put up signs that read, “Dogs not welcome!” and “We don’t eat human food.”
Asked what he thought of the outside intervention, Chou admitted that some residents were at first none too happy about the volunteers cleaning their front yards for them. “But I urged them to think positively, to remember that the volunteers are here to help us polish our treasure, not to rob us of it.”
Now nearly all the locals are also part of the effort to promote tourism in the area.
“Nowhere else in Taiwan can you find feral cats so close to people. They live in harmony with residents, and are not even afraid of tourists taking photos of them,” Chien said. This intimacy has surprised even visitors from Japan, a country known for its friendliness toward street cats.
“A Japanese reporter called this a miracle, because although Japanese cities like Kanazawa are known for having a large number of strays, they have never seen so close a relationship between felines and humans,” Chien added.
Residents are careful not to let the cat population increase too quickly. To control the number of cats in the community, the volunteers have neutered more than 40 cats, with the help of Chien’s husband, who owns a pet clinic in Taipei City.
“Control is necessary for both the people and the animals, because resources and space are limited,” Chien said, adding she is afraid that uncontrolled cat growth could devour the resources of the tiny village.
Together with the arrival of tourists, business opportunities have also multiplied. In front of the Houtong train station, there used to be only four small eateries. Now there are 16 stores, with more expected to open up soon.
Inside the cat village itself, several aged residents now run stalls selling goods and snacks. “It’s been a long time since they’ve felt needed by anyone else,” Chien said. Even young people who had moved out of the village have now returned, to open cafes or budget inns.
The once forgotten place is now more than alive, filled everywhere with photographers, bloggers, reporters and backpackers.
Even a few teachers have arrived on the scene. After Chao Guo-hsiang, a technology instructor at National Chu-tung Senior High School, visited the place, he told his students of the wonders he saw, and used the topic of stray cats to stimulate their creativity.
“I told my students to come up with ways to improve the living conditions of stray animals,” Chao said. “I urged them to come up with their own designs, be it cat houses, ramps or even toys—whatever helps.”
In her photography work Chien often tries to incorporate her subjects into their surroundings, and her approach to the cats of Houtong is no different.
“These are more than just cats, but an inseparable part of Houtong’s unique culture,” Chien said, adding that she hopes the world can see the magic of this town through the cats’ eyes.
As the sun sets in the valley, more visitors are arriving, and they have come prepared: with cameras strapped around their necks, cat teasers in one hand and cat food in the other. They are here to see not only the cats, but also the beauty and vitality of Houtong. (HZW)
Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@mail.gio.gov.tw