The growing trend of pet ownership is provoking conflicts that illuminate the increasing contradiction in China between individual rights and collective or shared ones.
The story of a Wuhan resident who made an official complaint about the smell of their neighbor's 'cat house' is one such incident that has gone viral on the Chinese web. Local community officials said there was nothing they could do about the smell, and the local police said there were no laws on the books that would allow them to intervene, Wuhan Evening News reports.
The public interest requires people to consider neighbors' wellbeing and not just their own, writes Si Yuan for the China Youth Daily. Turning one's house into a 'cat house' could potentially infringe the neighbors’ rights of habitation, Si writes.
The development of consciousness of rights has made conflicts more frequent, Si says. Community managers and authorities should not shirk responsibility or respond that there are no rules. Instead, they should mediate such problems. Good living conditions are a result of continuous conciliation.
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