Pets in China are earning ‘snack money’ in cafes as their owners send them to work
中国的宠物在咖啡馆赚“零食钱”，主人会送它们去上班
Jane Xue sent her dog, a 2-year-old Samoyed named OK, off to her first day of work in mid-September. Her employer? A dog cafe in Fuzhou, in southeastern China. "I feel it's just like parents sending their kids off to school," the 27-year-old PhD student told CNN as she dropped OK off for her new part-time job.
9月中旬，简·薛送她的爱犬 OK（一只两岁的萨摩耶犬）去“上班”了。它的雇主是谁呢？是中国东南部城市福州的一家狗狗咖啡馆。这位27岁的哲学博士在送 OK 去兼职时告诉 CNN：“我感觉这就像家长送孩子去上学一样。”
Xue wanted her dog to "experience a different life," as she and her partner are usually out on weekends. "Sending OK to the cafe is a win-win. She gets to play with other dogs and won't feel so lonely," she said.
薛女士想让她的狗狗“体验不同的生活”，因为她和伴侣经常周末外出。她说：“送 OK 去咖啡馆是个双赢的选择。她可以和其他的狗狗一起玩耍，就不会感到孤单了。”
Pet cafes are a big business in China. Visitors get to interact with the animals that roam the shop, allowing the venue owners to charge more for the experience. Customers visiting China's cat and dog cafes usually pay an entrance fee, ranging from 30-60 yuan ($4-8.5) per person, or simply need to order something like a cup of coffee.
在中国，宠物咖啡馆是一门热门生意。顾客可以与店内自由漫步的动物们亲密互动，这让店主可以为此收取更高的费用。光顾中国猫狗咖啡馆的顾客通常需要支付入场费，每人30至60元（约合4至8.5美元），或者只需点一杯咖啡之类的饮品即可。
In addition to being surrounded by playmates, Xue says OK's job in the cafe allows her and her partner to save money. If they leave her at home, they have to run the air-conditioning all day, which gets pricey.
除了有许多玩伴外，薛表示，OK 在咖啡馆的工作还让她和伴侣省了钱。如果留她在家里，他们必须全天开着空调，而这笔费用不菲。
"Summers in Fuzhou can be brutal," she added. Xue's idea might sound unconventional, but it's a growing trend in China. Called "Zhengmaotiaoqian" in Chinese, it translates to "earn snack money."
她补充道：“福州的夏天非常炎热。”薛女士的想法可能听起来有些离经叛道，但在中国，这却是一个愈发流行的趋势。在中文里，这被称为“挣猫条钱”，意思是“赚点买宠物零食的钱”。
The phrase stems from the idea that these pets are actually working – either part-time or full-time – at cat and dog cafes and then returning home to their families at night, just like humans.
这个词语源于一个观念：这些宠物实际上是在猫狗咖啡馆里打工，无论是兼职还是全职，然后在晚上回家与家人团聚，与人类的工作模式颇为相似。
Though the snack money trend may seem cute and fun, it's a sign of the times, too. China is expected to have more pets than toddlers by the end of this year, according to Goldman Sachs.
尽管“赚零食钱”这一趋势看起来既可爱又有趣，但它也是时代的一个缩影。高盛预计，到今年年底，中国的宠物数量将超过婴幼儿数量。
In recent months, cafe owners and pet owners alike have been posting recruitment ads and CVs on Xiaohongshu, China's answer to Instagram.
近几个月来，无论是咖啡馆老板还是宠物主人们，都纷纷在小红书（中国版 Instagram）上发布招聘广告和简历。
In one viral post titled "What is the salary for working in a cat cafe?" a cat cafe owner wrote: "Many people say they want to send their cats to work in our cat cafe, if that is the case, let me introduce the salary of our cafe, as we just paid some of our old employees!"
在一篇名为“在猫咖啡馆工作工资多少？”的热门帖子中，一位猫咖啡馆老板写道：“很多人说想把他们的猫送到我们的猫咖啡馆工作，如果是这样的话，让我来介绍一下我们咖啡馆的工资吧，因为我们刚刚给一些老员工发了工资！”
According to the tongue-in-cheek post, which has garnered hundreds of likes, a gray and white cat named Datou ("big head") ended up getting five cans of cat food "after taxes."
这篇幽默的帖子获得了数百个点赞，据帖子所述，一只名叫大头的灰白色猫咪最终“税后”得到了五个猫罐头的报酬。
"Cat employees wanted!" wrote another cafe shop owner in a post on Xiaohongshu that got more than 100 likes and 600 comments. "We're looking for healthy, good-tempered cats," the owner added. "We offer a snack per day, and a 30% discount for pet owner's friends!"
“招聘猫咪员工啦！”另一位咖啡馆老板在小红书上发布的帖子迅速走红，收获了超过100个点赞和600多条评论。这位老板在帖子中补充道：“我们正在寻找健康、性格温顺的猫咪。我们每天会提供一份小零食，宠物主人的朋友来店还能享受30%的优惠哦！”
CNN reached out to some of the cafe owners for comment. As for Xue, she says she stumbled upon some dog cafe posts on Xiaohongshu and thought it would be fun to send OK to work. She soon found one in Fuzhou called "Yezonghui" and messaged the owner. Next, it was time to groom OK in preparation for her job interview.
CNN 联系了一些咖啡馆老板以获取他们的看法。薛女士表示，她在小红书上偶然看到一些狗狗咖啡馆的帖子，觉得送 OK 去工作会是个不错的选择。很快，她就在福州找到了一家名为“夜总会”的咖啡馆，并联系了老板。接下来，她开始为 OK 的面试做准备，给她梳洗打扮了一番。
"The cafe owner watched OK for about an hour to see if she interacted well with customers and got along with the other four dogs," Xue told CNN. The screening process clearly went well – the pretty white Samoyed was offered the "job."
薛女士向 CNN 介绍道：“咖啡馆老板观察了 OK 大约一个小时，看她是否能很好地与顾客互动，是否与其他四只狗狗相处融洽。”显然，筛选过程进行得很顺利，这只漂亮的白色萨摩耶成功获得了这份“工作”。
"My OK is the star of the cafe!" she said. China's first cat cafe opened in the southern city of Guangzhou in 2011 and the number of similar establishments has grown by 200% per year in the country, according to CBN Data, China's state-linked financial paper. As of 2023, there were more than 4,000 cat cafe-related companies in the country.
她自豪地说：“我的 OK 现在是咖啡馆的明星！”据中国官方财经媒体 CBNData 报道，2011年，中国首家猫咖啡馆在广州这座南方城市亮相，此后，国内同类店铺的数量以每年200%的速度增长。截至2023年，全国已有超过4000家与猫咖啡馆相关的企业。
苏格拉底有一句名言：我知我无知。说的是，当你认识到的东西越多就越发现自己无知。苏格拉底认为，人对于客观世界的认识是有限的，且不可能完全认识客观世界，并且不应对客观世界刨根究底。神对于世界的规划自有安排，若人一意孤行地探索世界和自然的奥秘，则最终将亵渎甚至触怒神明。正因为人对神所构建的世界不可能实现完全认知，因此那些宣称自己能够认识和改造世界的人，本身便是无知的代言。尽管苏格拉底的关于“ 我知我无知”的观念的解读，在现在看来有失客观科学。但至少苏格拉底告诫人们，人的认知是有限的，现有的知识甚至可能存在错误和疏漏。因此，无论任何时代，我们都必须对自己的无知加以认识并通过不懈的开拓，去更新甚至颠覆固有的知识结构。我们在求学之路上也要报以我知我不知的心态，才能走得更远、终有所成。最后，祝愿每一位考研学子都能顺利上岸！
