Culture

Sagwa: The Chinese Siamese Cat

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It’s probably been about 20 years since I last saw Sagwa, but I still remember it fondly if a bit blurrily. I was solidly a PBS kid, and I would have been five when it premiered, perfectly in the target demographic. Plus, my favorite animals have always been cats and bats. A cartoon about a kitten whose best friend is a bat was made for me. The enduring love for this short-lived kids’ show indicates a lot of other children felt the same way. I’ve found out, however, that Sagwa was a real cat! She inspired a children’s book which inspired the popular television show.

Sagwa, Amy’s Siamese Cat

Writer Amy Tan created the character of Sagwa. Tan is a first-generation Chinese American who started her career as a language specialist for developmentally disabled children (7). She started writing fiction in the 1980s while working as a freelance business writer as a break from her hectic work schedule (7). Tan never intended to be a professional writer; she just kind of fell into it and was really good at it (7). Tan’s first and best-known book is The Joy Luck Club, but she went on to publish many other books, short stories, and essays, including Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, a picture book for children (4, 7, 8).

Sagwa book cover
Image from Wikipedia

Tan had an elderly Siamese cat named Sagwa (1, 2, 5). Sagwa means “silly melon head” in Chinese (2, 5, 6, 9). It’s usually an insult to say to another person, as it implies incompetence (6). As a name for a cat, though, I think it’s kind of cute. One night, Tan had a dream about her cat and how Sagwa got her color points (1, 5). She decided to write a story about it, and in 1994 Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat was published with illustrations by Gretchen Schields (2, 8). The real Sagwa lived to be 21 years old and is memorialized in the dedication of the book as Amy Tan’s “late and dearly beloved kitty” (2).

In the book, the character of Sagwa is a pure-white kitten who lives in the house of the Foolish Magistrate, an unpleasant official with a habit of making up restrictive and unnecessary rules for his subjects. One day, the Foolish Magistrate decides to decree that all citizens must not sing until after sunset. Sagwa was napping in the study, and after the magistrate left, she jumped down onto his desk and landed in an inkpot. The ink got all over her face, ears, paws, and tail. (2, 8)

As Sagwa tried to rub the ink off, she accidentally smudged out the character for “not” on the proclamation. When the altered decree was read, the citizens loved the idea of singing all day. The magistrate was not pleased to hear singing, until he realized they were singing his praises. The magistrate learned some wisdom, and he made a new decree that all cats in his district would henceforth have dark points in honor of Sagwa. (2, 8)

Sagwa Takes the Small Screen

PBS Kids adapted the story and characters from Amy Tan’s book into a television show that premiered on September 3, 2001 and ran for a single season with 40 episodes (3, 5, 6). Tan was a creative consultant on the production (3, 4). The first episode tells the story from the book, and the rest of the stories are original (6, 9).

Amy Tan with Sagwa
Amy Tan and the Miao kittens – Image from tvtropes

The action centers around the Miao family: the kittens Sagwa, older brother Dongwa, and younger sister Sheegwa as well as their parents Mama and Baba and grandparents Nai-Nai and Yeh-Yeh. As in the book, they live in the house of the Foolish Magistrate, who lives with his wife, Tai-Tai (literally “wife”), and their three daughters. The magistrate’s chef and Reader of the Rules also feature prominently, as well as other cats in the village. Sagwa’s best friend is a bat named Fu-Fu. The Miao family are court calligraphers–they write the magistrate’s edits for him by dipping their tails in ink (3, 5, 9).

There’s no specific location given for the village, but clues in the show give the time as the late Qing Dynasty, 1895-1912 (5, 6, 9). Each episode contains two animated stories divided by a short segment of real children talking about their culture and customs (1, 3, 4). In an interview with the Arizona Daily Sun, Amy Tan explained that the show, for her, was about showing kids that culture, heritage, and circumstances make us different, but that we really have more in common than what divides us (1). “The whole idea to me is that imagination is so tied to compassion for other people,” she said (1).

Like most children’s media, each story in Sagwa teaches a moral lesson. The press release for the show from PBS cites “there’s more than one way to view the world” and “you’re never too small for your own voice to be heard” as uniting themes (4). Introducing children to other cultures, especially Chinese traditions, was obviously a priority as well.

Paw Rating

As far as the book goes, I only just learned it exists, but it looks adorable. I want one. Critical reviews I read called it wordy and were quite unkind about the artwork (8). I think perhaps those reviewers missed the point of children’s books, especially with their complaints suggesting that the illustrations weren’t high art. There’s a video online of Amy Tan reading it on Sesame Street, and it looked like a book I would have loved when I was little. Having not actually read it myself, only watched it read to Elmo, I can’t really give it a rating of my own. Here is a great review from a fellow cat person, however.

As for the television show, it is absolutely charming. Although I have my doubts that it’s entirely accurate to Qing Dynasty Chinese culture, it definitely broadened my horizons as a little child living in a very white community. I do have a bone to pick with it as an amateur cat educator. I can let the thing with the magically permanent ink markings go because that was the folktale Amy Tan created. However, no cat seems to have a little of more than one kitten, at least not that I can remember. The Miao kittens are all said to be two years apart in age, yet they are all still kittens (5, 9). Five-to-eight-year-old children are old enough for animal characters in their edutainment to follow the basic rules of their species. Don’t get me started on the dogs that live in Tai-Tai’s sleeves.

On the whole, I think it’s a show that kids can get a lot out of, but there’s room for improvement when it comes to accuracy and educational value. It’s a shame it only ran for one season. It was in reruns so long, I thought surely it was longer than that. I give Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese cat 4 out of 5 paws. Time to look up a recipe for mooncakes.

Works Cited

  1. Coder, M. (2001, September 24). Sagwa shows her true colors–and admires others’. Arizona Daily Sun. link
  2. Haines, C. (n.d.). Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. Life with Siamese Cats. https://www.life-with-siamese-cats.com/sagwa-the-chinese-siamese-cat.html
  3. Heffley, L. (2001, September 3). ‘Sagwa’ a finely drawn tale. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-03-ca-41625-story.html
  4. PBS Publicity. (2000, January 19). Amy Tan’s Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, produced by Cinegroupe in association with Children’s Television Workshop and IF/X Productions, is coming daily to PBS Kids. Public Broadcasting Service. link
  5. Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. (n.d.). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294177/
  6. Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. (2022, April 17) In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sagwa,_the_Chinese_Siamese_Cat&oldid=1083261392
  7. Tan, A. (n.d.). About. Amy Tan: The official website. http://www.amytan.net/about.html
  8. The Indianapolis Public Library. (2022, April 26). Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. https://indypl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S165C404405
  9. Western animation: Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. (2022, April 18). In tvtropes. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/SagwaTheChineseSiameseCat

Published May 8, 2022

Culture

Is Your Zodiac Sign a Cat?

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Zodiac reading neon sign
Photo by pixel parker on Unsplash

In the Western world, people are most likely to be familiar with the Chinese Zodiac, which features a tiger but not the felines many of us share our homes with. The Vietnamese Zodiac, however, honors the domestic cat as its fourth sign, in place of the rabbit in the Chinese line-up. Why there is this notable difference between the two very similar zodiacs is unsure. Possibilities include the words for rabbit (mao) and cat (meo) sounding very similar or the Vietnamese of yore simply choosing to replace the rabbit with an animal that their agrarian society deemed much more useful, the pest-controlling cat. Whatever the reason, some cat lovers can reference the Vietnamese Zodiac to state with certainty that they themselves are cats.

Those born in the year of the cat are said to have personalities that resemble our furry friends. Cat signs are curious, but cautious as well, and show good judgement. They’re creative people, likely to be talented and ambitious. They are sociable but enjoy their alone time as well. Cat signs are a bit secretive, always keeping something hidden for themselves. They are also said to be superficial and self-indulgent, prone to mood swings, and–like every cat ever–stubborn.

Cat and pig bobble-head figures
Cats and pigs are highly compatible signs. Photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash

Cat signs are very compatible with pigs and goats but do not get along with rats and roosters. An old folktale called The Great Race tells how the animals of the zodiac were invited to meet with the Jade Emperor. The rat and the cat were the cleverest of the bunch, but both were poor swimmers, so when they came to a river they convinced the ox to let them ride across on his back. But just when all three were about the reach the other side, the rat push the cat off the ox’s back. The rat made it to the Jade Emperor’s palace first and became the first animal in the zodiac. Cats have been the mortal enemies of rats ever since. I myself am Year of the Rat. Please nobody tell my cats.

Quick Facts

  • Element: Wood, Yin
  • Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 6
  • Unlucky Numbers: 1, 7, 8
  • Lucky Flowers: plantain lily, jasmine, and snapdragon
  • Lucky Colors: pink, red, blue, and purple
  • Unlucky Colors: dark yellow, dark brown, white
  • Famous Cat Signs: Nicholas Cage, Brad Pitt, Cesar Chavez, Frank Sinatra, Andy Warhol, and Pope Benedict XVI

Published January 16, 2020

Updated May 5, 2021