For around 600 years, the people of ancient China lived without domestic cats—until the Silk Road brought the first feline companions around 1,300 years ago. Before this cat-less period, humans had shared their homes with a very different type of cat since the Neolithic era.

Analysis of 22 cat remains from 14 ancient Chinese sites shows that leopard cats began living alongside humans about 5,400 years ago, offering companionship for roughly 3,500 years. These small wildcats, native to Asia and similar in size to modern housecats, were likely valued for their spotted coats and skill at hunting vermin.

Around 150 CE, however, leopard cats vanish from the archaeological record. Researchers suggest this may have been due to the social and economic turmoil after the Han Dynasty’s collapse, which reduced rodent populations and made these cats less useful to humans—a pattern comparable to the disappearance of black rats in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire.

For six centuries, China remained cat-less until 730 CE, when the earliest known domestic cat appeared in the Silk Road city of Tongwan. Genomic analysis links this cat to populations in the Levant and Central Asia, suggesting it was brought by merchants.

Cats re-entered Chinese culture at the same time, with images appearing in tomb art during the Tang Dynasty (7th–10th centuries CE). Further genomic study indicates this first domestic cat was likely either all white or a mackerel tabby with white markings. Since 85 percent of cats depicted in historical Chinese paintings are white, researchers speculate that lighter-colored cats were preferred by the ancient elite.