Shanghai unleashes festival to celebrate four-legged friends

"We believe that the pet-friendly atmosphere in Shanghai's business community is among the best in the country," Chen said. "We plan to keep creating similar pet carnivals because we have always had a vision that every pet owner working in the CBD area will be able to leave their pets in a park when they are at work, pick them up after work and go home together."

As early as 2017, some local business with sufficient outdoor space began proposing pet-friendly measures.

Shanghai Suhewan Mixc World, a shopping center beside Suzhou Creek that opened in 2022, features a floor dedicated to pet-related stores. The photo studio HIMO, for instance, has customized its operations in the mall to take artistic photos of pets.

There are more than 50 pet-friendly stores in the mall offering service packages for pets that include grooming, spa, day care, hand-painted custom dog tags, baked goods and pet birthday parties.

Pet owners can also rent carts, raincoats, backpacks, drinking cups and leashes at the mall, while temporary pet care services charge between 25 and 40 yuan ($3.5 and $5.6) per hour.

The Bund Finance Center shopping mall now has over 90 pet-friendly shops and over 30 pet-friendly restaurants.

"In a recent survey of international talent recruitment and retention, we found that a city's pet friendliness is an important consideration for many young international talents when choosing a place to work and live," Lu Huiwen, a member of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference told Chinanews.com.