Recovered artifacts prove that the Chinese people had already accepted cats as domestic pets by 3000 BCE at the latest. However, stories trace the origins of relations between man and cat not to companionship, but to the catching of mice.
陸續出土的文物典籍，雖已證實中國人迎貓入室的歷史，應不晚於西元前三千年。然而故事點出了人貓關係的起始，可能就在於捕鼠。