World Cup - China Mourns Death of Psychic Cat That Predicted Game Winners

China is mourning the sad passing of a “psychic” cat in their country that gained prominence for correctly predicting the outcome of six World Cup games. The untimely death of the beloved cat triggered an outpouring of sympathies and emotions on Chinese social media.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HKFP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HKFP</a> China mourns Baidian&#39;er - the &#39;psychic&#39; World Cup ginger cat <a href="https://t.co/l0dPWWA1Du">https://t.co/l0dPWWA1Du</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/worldcup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#worldcup</a> 🐱 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/worldcup2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#worldcup2018</a> <a href="https://t.co/9iQGoqiZtb">pic.twitter.com/9iQGoqiZtb</a></p>&mdash; Hong Kong Stream (@hkstream) <a href="https://twitter.com/hkstream/status/1014815769719435265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The cat was an orange-furred tabby named Baidian’, which means, “white spot” in Chinese. It used to be a stray that loitered around the Palace Museum in Beijing’s Forbidden City.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thousands of Chinese are pouring out their grief on social media following the death of a “psychic” cat, Baidian’er that correctly predicted the outcome of Nigeria and… <a href="https://t.co/6P2nbIt2Hx">https://t.co/6P2nbIt2Hx</a></p>&mdash; Team #Tinimash (@Tinimashent) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tinimashent/status/1014831884608704512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The cat predicted the outcome of the game by choosing between two bowls of food offered to him, with the flags of the competing World Cup teams stuck in the ground behind them. Baidian’ er was able to correctly forecast the results of six World Cup games- an amazing “feat.”

So popular has the cat become that the Palace Museum even set up an account for him on China’s popular Twitter-like platform, Weibo. It’s just sad for so many of his supporters and “fans” that his correct prediction of an Argentinian win against Nigeria turned out to be his last.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">China Social Media Trending: Paws at the Palace Museum: Forbidden City Cat Baidianer Gets Its Own Weibo Account <a href="https://t.co/CwOSZWiIPx">https://t.co/CwOSZWiIPx</a></p>&mdash; China Stories (@ChinaStories) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChinaStories/status/1013048288512180226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2018</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">China&#39;s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldCup</a> predicting cat Baidian&#39;er has died, but it turns out the feline went out on a high by correctly calling that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Messi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Messi</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Argentina?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Argentina</a> would beat <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nigeria?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Nigeria</a>. <a href="https://t.co/AmGCNqhAjN">https://t.co/AmGCNqhAjN</a> <a href="https://t.co/pW5IgvPxQC">pic.twitter.com/pW5IgvPxQC</a></p>&mdash; The National Sport (@NatSportUAE) <a href="https://twitter.com/NatSportUAE/status/1014781403005902848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The museum simply said that the much-loved cat fell ill but did not specify the kind of illness that downed Baidian’ er. They announced the cat’s death on Monday. The tributes and sympathies flooded Weibo with almost 10,000 comments in quick time.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="ja" dir="ltr">【中国発】紫禁城のW杯予言猫・白点儿（Baidian’er）君、逝く <a href="https://t.co/UtezazvcU2">https://t.co/UtezazvcU2</a> <a href="https://t.co/DO3DS5oaEK">pic.twitter.com/DO3DS5oaEK</a></p>&mdash; ぬこねこ速報 (@nukonekosokuhou) <a href="https://twitter.com/nukonekosokuhou/status/1014717263205847041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2018</a></blockquote>

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One wrote: “Go on living a happy life in Cat Heaven, I’ll see you again.” Another said: “Every time I go to the Forbidden City, I have to go see Baidian ‘er, take a photo, play for a while, see him sleep on the grass in the sun.”

The heartaches over the cat’s death are almost palpable on social media.

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Source:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/mystic-moggy-china-mourns-death-of-psychic-world-cup-cat-10501704