We were exploring Qufu (曲阜, Qūfù), the hometown of Confucius, when a giant glass display packed with bright pink cats stopped Dad and Elaine in our tracks. We went inside to investigate. Elaine came out with Meow — and somehow our Shandong traveling family had just grown.
🐱 Wait… Why Are There So Many Pink Cats in Qufu?
Qufu.
Confucius.
Ancient courtyards.
Traditional architecture.
Chinese history everywhere.
Dad thought he had a reasonable idea of what the souvenir shops might look like here.
Traditional designs.
Calligraphy.
Fans.
Confucius-themed gifts.
Perhaps something that would send Dad down another historical rabbit hole. 😂
And then we saw…
THIS.
A huge glass display absolutely stuffed with bright pink cats.
Not one.
Not ten.
PINK CATS EVERYWHERE.
Dad stopped.
Elaine stopped.
This was definitely not what we expected to find in Confucius’ hometown.
Which, of course, meant…
we had to investigate. 😂
🏪 The Pink Cats Made Us Walk Inside
The giant display had done its job.
First it caught our attention.
Then it made us curious.
So Dad and Elaine went inside.
And that’s when we discovered something more interesting than another ordinary souvenir shop.
This was a 文创店 (wénchuàng diàn) — a cultural and creative products shop.
And once we started looking around, the connection to Qufu became much clearer.
The shop wasn’t abandoning Qufu’s cultural identity.
It was playing with it.
Traditional ideas were appearing in contemporary packaging.
Confucius could become an illustration.
Cultural references could become gifts.
History could become something playful enough to take home.
One display even offered:
孔府谢师礼
with an English description:
“Authentic Confucian Heritage Cookies.”
Dad loved this.
Because this wasn’t the Qufu souvenir shop he had imagined.
Understanding China Better: What Is 文创?
文创 (wénchuàng) is short for 文化创意 (wénhuà chuàngyì) — cultural creativity.
A 文创店 (wénchuàng diàn) is a shop selling cultural and creative products: gifts, stationery, toys, food, accessories and other items designed around cultural ideas, places or institutions.
For travelers, these shops can be fascinating because Chinese culture doesn’t always have to be presented as something old.
It can be redesigned.
Repackaged.
Made playful.
And sometimes…
made extremely pink. 😂
😂 But Elaine Wasn’t Shopping for Confucian Heritage Cookies…
Dad was looking around.
Elaine had other priorities.
Remember that enormous family of pink cats outside?
One of them had apparently passed the Elaine test.
Out of all those cats…
Elaine chose one.
And buying her wasn’t enough.
She needed a name.
Elaine called her:
MEOW. 🐱
Dad thought we’d bought a souvenir in Qufu.
As it turned out…
Elaine had recruited another traveler. 😂
🎒 Meow’s First Shandong Adventure
We hadn’t reached the end of our journey.
Not even close.
Our 2025 trip had taken us from Beijing (北京, Běijīng) down into Shandong:
Beijing → Jinan → Taishan → Qufu → Zibo → Dezhou → Beijing
Meow joined somewhere in the middle.
Which meant there was only one thing to do.
Bring her along.
Suddenly she started appearing everywhere.
On the luggage.
In the backpack.
At rest stops.
While sightseeing.
And apparently anywhere Elaine thought required a photograph. 😂
📸 Meow Makes the Zhoucun 周村 Family Photo
By the time we reached Zhoucun (周村, Zhōucūn), nobody seemed to be treating Meow like something we’d just bought anymore.
here she was.
In the family photo.
Dad.
Elaine.
Cheers.
And…
Meow.
Apparently admission to the ChinaTravelBUG traveling family is remarkably easy.
😂
🐼 Meow, Meet the Veteran
But Meow wasn’t the first stuffed traveler in this family.
Not even close.
There was already a veteran.
Beijing Panda. 🐼
Elaine bought Beijing Panda at Beijing Zoo (北京动物园, Běijīng Dòngwùyuán) in 2013.
That was Elaine’s first-ever trip to Beijing.
And looking back now, Dad realizes that journey mattered.
Something about Beijing caught Elaine’s imagination.
The history.
The places.
The things she encountered.
China itself.
She came home with Panda.
She also came home with an emperor-themed poker set Dad and Elaine still associate with that 2013 journey.
They were souvenirs.
But they became reminders of something much bigger:
the beginning of Elaine’s curiosity about Beijing and China.
🐼 Beijing Panda Had Done This Before
Beijing Panda didn’t simply sit at home after 2013.
Elaine brought him back to Beijing in 2023.
Then…
in 2025…
Panda came back again. 😂
His third Beijing journey.
Except this time we weren’t only exploring Beijing.
We headed south into Shandong.
And somewhere along the way…
the veteran met the rookie.
One began traveling with Elaine after her first Beijing journey in 2013.
The other had just been discovered behind a giant wall of pink cats in Qufu in 2025.
Now they were sharing the same travel bag.
Travel is strange like that.
And Then There’s Cheers…
Of course, there was another member of this increasingly ridiculous traveling party.
Cheers.
At this point Dad probably needs to stop describing these things as luggage.
Dad is apparently operating a stuffed-animal transportation service across China.
😂
☕ Apparently Meow Needed a Break Too
Traveling through Shandong is tiring work.
Apparently.
Meow needed breaks.
She needed somewhere to sit.
She needed transportation.
She needed photographs.
The only thing she wasn’t doing…
was carrying her own luggage.
Typical.
😂
🧳 By Then, She Wasn’t Really a Souvenir Anymore
Then Dad took this photograph.
Look at her.
Sitting on the suitcase.
Waiting.
Ready to move again.
Somewhere during the journey, something funny had happened.
Meow wasn’t really being treated like something Elaine had bought in a shop anymore.
She had traveled.
She had explored.
She had been photographed.
She had met Cheers.
She had met Beijing Panda.
She had joined our Shandong journey.
She had become part of the story.
And Then We All Went Back to Beijing
Eventually our Shandong journey came full circle.
Beijing → Jinan → Taishan → Qufu → Zibo → Dezhou → Beijing.
But the traveling party that returned to Beijing wasn’t quite the same one that had left.
We came back with one more traveler.
Meow. 🐱
And that’s what Dad loves about this story.
We didn’t go to Qufu looking for a pink cat.
We went because Qufu is one of China’s great historical and cultural destinations.
The pink cats simply made us stop.
Stopping made us curious.
Curiosity made us enter the shop.
The shop introduced us to another side of modern Chinese 文创.
And Elaine…
well…
Elaine found Meow.
❤️ Sometimes the Souvenir Starts Making Memories With You
Normally, we buy a souvenir because we want something that will remind us of a journey after we get home.
But occasionally something funny happens.
The souvenir doesn’t wait until you get home to become a memory.
It starts making memories with you.
Beijing Panda began his journey with Elaine in 2013.
Meow began hers in Qufu in 2025.
They’re stuffed animals.
Of course they are.
But years later, when you see something like Beijing Panda sitting on a shelf, you don’t really see a stuffed panda.
Dad sees 2013.
Elaine’s first Beijing trip.
Beijing Zoo.
A little girl becoming curious about Beijing.
About China.
About what else was out there.
And perhaps one day we’ll look at Meow and remember something similar.
A giant glass display full of pink cats.
A surprising little 文创 discovery in Confucius’ hometown.
Qufu.
Zhoucun.
Shandong.
And one journey where our traveling family unexpectedly became a little bigger.
🐱 Welcome to the Family, Meow.
Beijing Panda is the veteran.
Cheers already knows the routine.
Meow is the rookie.
And Dad?
Dad may need a bigger suitcase. 😂
ChinaTravelBUG — See China. Understand It Better.
