Michael Zhao (’07), Forbes.com
July 07, 2006

Pet doctor Zhan Yaoming often had to hide his dog when he started raising his first pet eight years ago in China. There were dog curfews and regular inspections, called “strike-hards,” in Chinese cities, due to popular paranoia about rabies, barking and biting, as well as sanitary concerns. For decades, China had been a pet-hostile society, considered an unnecessary luxury when average Chinese citizens were sweating to improve their own living standards.

Change has been so dramatic in recent years that China is no longer a no-pet zone. Dogs are seen in cities as much as they are in the West, and pets are becoming a profit-center.

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