Luxury life for felines: Chinese DIYer goes viral with condo and subway for pet cats

A Maine Coon cat calmly waits on a subway platform as a train pulls in. At first glance, the video seems like artificial intelligence trickery – but look closer.

It's a handcrafted cat subway, built over four months by Chinese DIY enthusiast Xing Zhilei.

Dubbed the cat subway system, the project is far more than a play structure. It features tunnels, carriages, working escalator, and even functioning platform doors.

From the glowing LED signs to the safety barriers, the setup looks so realistic that one foreign commenter on X quipped, "This system looks better than the New York subway."

Within days, the video exploded across RedNote, Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok), and overseas platforms, racking up over 100 million views.

Some fans hailed it as "a true work of art," while others called it simply "the best thing I've seen all year."

But the subway is not Xing's first viral creation.

In 2023, he spent half a year building a luxury apartment for his cats – a fully functional residence scaled down to feline size.

The attention to detail is uncanny. The condo boasts an elevator that actually goes up and down, a video doorbell that lights up, and a living room designed like a showroom flat – only shrunken to cat-size.

The taps gush real water, while the flat-screen TV can cast cartoons or nature shows for the cats to binge. From the flooring to the lighting, it feels like a genuine high-end apartment – just for whiskered tenants.

Since then, that one "apartment" has grown into an entire cat town, now complete with a supermarket, bank, cinema, and even a billiards hall.

Xing says the idea was simple: give his two cats – cheekily named Not Bad and Pretty Good – a taste of what he calls "the ultimate human luxury."

With every project, Xing has taught himself new skills, from 3D modeling and printing to carpentry, welding, sewing, and painting – essentially becoming a one-man design and construction crew.

The stunt has brought Xing overnight fame. Fans flooded his comments section asking for custom builds, with some joking they wanted to "buy in" as shareholders.

Not everyone was convinced at first. "People thought I was crazy when I told them I wanted to build a condo for my cats," Xing said, recalling how his mother rolled her eyes: "You have too much time and money, huh?"

Critics, meanwhile, argue the designs reflect human comforts more than feline needs.

But behind the spectacle lies a business mind. Xing's wife runs a pet shop, and the cat condo was originally meant as a fun way to attract customers. Since his videos went viral, he admits, business has been booming.

For Xing, though, it's still about passion. "I've loved making things since I was a kid," he says.

For everyone else, his projects strike a mix of awe, envy, and disbelief. Which leaves one question: if a luxury cat condo went on sale tomorrow, would you buy in for your cat?