Online retailer Tmall has announced that it is looking for a cat to be its CMO, or “Chief Maimeng [cuteness]  Officer”.

The Chinese name of the website, Tian Mao, means “sky cat”, and its advertising already features a cartoon pussy, as well as an indeterminate orange thing which rides on a goat… OK, I have no idea what’s going on there.

(Well, do you know what that’s meant to be?)

Celebrity cats from across the globe are queuing up to throw their hats into the ring, and there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write. Grumpy Cat is reputed to be in contention, as well as Youtube star Maru. (You can mock, but Maru’s videos have been viewed over 300 million times. How many people have watched your Youtube videos, human? Yeah, thought so.)

(Maru. He’s cuter than you. Sorry, but we have to face facts.)

Of course there’s a serious purpose to this silliness: it’s to promote “Singles Day.” November 11 has become known as 光棍节 (guanggun jie), a day when young Chinese people celebrate their single status (11/11 – get it?). Retailers seized on the potential of all that disposable income and turned what was once a students’ joke into a sales bonanza equivalent to the US Black Friday. Alibaba have even trademarked the term 双十一 (shuang shi yi, meaning “double 11”).

The whole thing is a brilliant PR stunt, albeit one which would be absolutely inexplicable to previous generations. But still, if you think your cat is the cutest in China (and let’s face it, you do), then all you have to do is to upload your moggy’s picture and biography to Weibo. You too – or at least your pet – could be a star.

Photos: chinadaily.com.cn, Andrew Killeen, reviewofmycat.com

Want to share your new arrival with our readers? Email a photo (at least 1MB in size) of your little one with their full name, nationality, birth date, hospital, and parents’ names to editor@beijng-kids.com. Due to space constraints, we will only publish photos of babies born in Beijing after May 1, 2016.

Houlton P Hsu  
American. Born Mar 27 to Claudia Sun and Vincent Hsu Beijing United Family Hospital.

Ainhoa Shania Aponte Freire
Spanish. Born on Mar 4 to Roxana Laritza Freire Veliz and Fraivan Aponte Barrios at Liulitun Community Health Center.

Lucia Rae Alvarez-Liu
American. Born May 31 at to Yiran Liu and Roberto Alvarez at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital.

Veronica
Chinese. Born Jul 9 to ct. and More Zhang at Beijing Obstetrics and
Gynecology Hospital.

Zihang Zhou
Chinese. Born Apr 13 to Jingwen Chai and Lei Zhou at Tongzhou Maternal & Child Health Hospital of Beijing.

This article originally appeared on page 10 of the September 2016 Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

Want to share your new arrival with our readers? Email a photo (at least 1MB in size) of your little one with their full name, nationality, birth date, hospital, parent’s names to editor@beijing-kids.com. Due to space constraints, we will only publish photos of babies born in Beijing after February 1, 2016

Celyn Oliver Benjamin Morgan
Welsh. Born on Dec 13 to Jessica and Eurin Morgan at Beijing United Family Hospital.

Janice Joyce Davison
American. Born on Mar 14 to Chris and Dawn Davison at the Oasis International Hospital.

Changqing Mu
Chinese. Born May 9 to Jiangwan Lu and Lianchao Mu at GlobalCare Women and Children’s Hospital.

Muen Li
Chinese. Born on Feb 21 to Judy Zhao and Wen Li at Beijing Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital.

Ivanna Angélica Méndez Zerpa
Venezuelan. Born on Oct 4 to Andreina Angelica Zerpa Delgado and Marcos Vinicio Mendez  Hernandez at Beijing United Family Hospital.

This article originally appeared on page 9 of the August 2016 Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

Want to share your new arrival with our readers? Email a photo (at least 1MB in size) of your little one with their full name, nationality, birth date, hospital, and parents’ names to editor@beijing-kids.com. Due to space constraints, we will only publish photos of babies born in Beijing after December 1, 2015.

Theodore Leon Clarke
British/ Australian. Born Sep 27 to Chloe Jacquelin and Leon Kevin Clarke at Beijing United Family Hospital.

Koroleva Alexandra
Russian. Born Nov 3 to Maria Baranova and Maxim Korolev at Yanda International Hospital.

Finn Lukas Dang
American/German. Born on Oct 29 to Simon and Gisa Dang at Beijing United Family Hospital.

Elias Bowen Martuneac Kang
American/Chinese. Born on Jan 12 to Jane and A Du Kang at Oasis International Hospital.

Ariel Chan
Chinese. Born on Apr 12 to Jojo and Zhidong Chan at Yancheng Third People’s Hospital.

This article originally appeared on page 12 of the 2016 June-July Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

Photo: Donnie Ray Jones (Flickr)