Video: Houtong - a cat village in Taiwan
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Houtong - a small mining village in Taiwan - became famous all over the world thanks to … the abundance of cats. The mining industry once flourished here, but after the development of the main resource, everything fell into decay. They were able to "revive" interest in Houtong cats, which attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world.
Until the 1970s, the village of Houtong was one of the leaders in the coal mining industry, the railway service provided a constant influx of population, the mines produced up to 220,000 tons of coal, a record amount in northern Taiwan. For several years of its existence, the settlement of 900 houses has increased several hundred times: about 6 thousand people lived here. However, the fate of Houtong, like many other similar settlements, turned out to be short-lived: the 1990s became a period of decline and mass exodus of young people, only a few hundred people did not leave their homes.
That all changed in 2008 when one of the residents, a big cat lover, organized a team of volunteers to take care of abandoned pets together. By posting photos of the purr on the Internet, the team of volunteers found a response from caring people who supported the project. Tourists began to come to Houtong to play with the cats, feed them and take a couple of dozen funny pictures.
Today, over a hundred cats live on the streets of Houtong, which attracts tourists. Of course, resourceful locals were not taken aback and as entertainment they offer travelers a variety of themed souvenirs and pastries in the form of funny cat faces. One of the attractions of Houtong is an unusual bridge that can be crossed from the railway station to the center. It is also made in the style of a cat: a tail flaunts at one end, and ears at the other.
Local residents love cats, because they have become a real symbol of the town. One of the local residents, 58-year-old pensioner Chan Bi-yun, admits that he initially fed five cats belonging to his neighbor (he died 9 years ago). Now the cat family has grown, and it already "contains" half of the purrs living in Houtong.
By the way, Houtong is not the only settlement "occupied" by animals. On the site Kulturologiya.ru we have already talked about another unusual place - Okunoshima, an island in Japan where cute rabbits live.
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