Hide & Seek, China’s City Cats, Hong Kong, Marcel Heijnen

Posted: July 19th, 2026 | No Comments »

From the Blue Lotus Gallery (Hong Kong)…..

A decade after the viral success of Marcel Heijnen’s Hong Kong Shop Cats, a long-awaited sequel has finally been published. This time, the Dutch photographer turns his lens towards the urban cats of China in Hide-and-Seek: China’s City Cats (躲猫猫). You can buy the book here…..

Encompassing a comprehensive China edition alongside three city-specific volumes, this brand-new four-book collection marks the culmination of Heijnen’s enduring fascination with the feline inhabitants who navigate the ever-shifting landscapes of China’s major cities.

Marcel Heijnen has traversed nearly twenty Chinese cities, documenting the communal courtyards of Shanghai’s shikumen, the enduring residential pockets of Guangzhou, and the lived-in reality of Hong Kong’s traditional trade districts. Rather than seeing these spaces as mere relics, Heijnen portrays them as active, functioning ecosystems in which cats are integral to the social fabric. His lens documents these felines as the “kings and queens” of their domains: ancestral halls, active construction sites, and the small-scale retail hubs that form the backbone of local neighbourhoods.

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