11 Lazy Cats Owned By Chinese Dissident Ai Weiwei

When the New Statesman’s Sophie Elmhirst went to China to meet dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who guest-edited this week’s issue, she also met the artist’s impressive array of feline friends.

Few of Ai’s cats are particularly interested in his art. But they’re happy to pose in front of some of his more explicit works

Chair cat is on a chair.

Basket cat is in a basket.

Sometimes a kitten’s gotta eat.

We call this kitten “socks”.

This cat looks like it might be the parent to the kittens.

Some more kittens?

OK, we confess, we don’t know how many kittens there were. At least four, though. And they’re all in this picture.

Only one black cat in the bunch.

The spider’s-web on its whiskers must have been hell to get off.

Catnapping.

Today, the New Statesman has published an issue guest-edited by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The theme of the issue is China and its future, and it showcases original photography, writing and research. The issue has been published simultaneously in Chinese (in digital form) and English.

As well as pictures of cats, the New Statesman has produced a Mandarin edition of the magazine. To get around the “great firewall”, it’s being distributed through bittorrent. Please seed it.