My current research project focuses on animal representations in contemporary China. It explores how the prevalence of animal imageries and narratives in present-day Chinese cultural landscape shapes and is shaped by environmental discourses from both Western and indigenous traditions. One major goal of this project is to highlight the rapidly changing perceptions and attitudes toward animals (and nonhuman entities in general) over the past few decades in China and put forward some hypotheses that undergird these changes. The current study suggests that the increased cultural capital of animals is closely tied up with China's economic reform and one-child policy in the late 1970s. The post-1980 generations, which grew up with a strong sense of individuality and solid material base, tend to embrace (neo)liberal ideologies and resist against traditional Chinese familial structure. The multiplication of animals (especially in domestic space) reflects the evolving conceptualization of family, kinship, and intimacy in present-day China. However, the popularity of animal media is also a result of decreased frequency and meaningfulness of human communication. The increased atomization and disappearance of communal life in contemporary China is a direct manifestation of the state's developmentalist psyche, which is inherently harmful to a sustainable future. My investigation of animal representations in contemporary China aims to bring forth the continued relevance of East Asian traditions in not only combating anthropocentrism and the logic of capital, but also fostering ecological consciousness, grassroots activism, and civil society.