Domestic cats reached China via the Silk Road during the Tang Period, claims study

The domestic cat (Felis catus) appeared in China only during the reign of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). It came to the country through the Silk Road, the vast ancient network of trade routes connecting Asia with Europe, a new study by Peking University has claimed.

Not just this, for over 3,500 years, the cats living near early farming communities in China were not domesticated but wild leopard cats that thrived around human settlements while hunting rodents, according to the study.

A research team led by Luo Shujin from the School of Life Sciences at the University sequenced ancient DNA of feline remains spanning over 5,000 years. The experts analysed mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from 22 ancient feline individuals excavated at 14 archaeological sites, covering the period from the Yangshao culture (~5,400 years ago) to the 20th century.

Prior to the study, it was assumed that small cat bones found in Neolithic and later sites in China belonged to early domestic cats.

The experts though found that before ~AD 220, all feline remains near human sites belonged to leopard cats, not domestic cats. “They lived around settlements from the Late Neolithic until the end of the Eastern Han, taking advantage of abundant prey around agricultural areas,” a statement by the university noted.

Domestic cats appeared only in the Tang Dynasty. “The earliest confirmed domestic cat remains, dated to AD 706-883 from the Tongwan City site in Shaanxi, show maternal lineages linked to Near Eastern African wildcats. Genome reconstruction suggests this Tang-era cat had short fur and likely white or white-spotted coloration. Identical genetic signatures in contemporaneous cats from Kazakhstan confirm that domestic cats have spread into China via Silk Road trade routes,” the statement noted.

According to the university, the study provides the first detailed genetic timeline of cats in China, showing how domestic species spread and integrated into human societies. It also highlights the Silk Road’s role in transporting animals and offers insights into the long-term interaction between humans and wildlife.

The late arrival of domestic cats in China via the Silk Road after 3,500 years of human-leopard cat commensalism has been published in Cell Genomics.