The Executives Being Chauffeured Around in Strollers in Shenzhen

After twenty years in Shenzhen, you eventually start believing you’ve truly seen everything. And then suddenly, somewhere around the corner, a man appears pushing a stroller. And naturally your brain immediately thinks: Ah, young family. Maybe twins. Maybe they’ve just come back from visiting the doctor .

And then you look inside.

And sitting there is a Pomeranian.

With sunglasses.

On a cooling mat.

Next to a tiny water bottle.

And suddenly you realize: no, this is not just a dog anymore. This is basically a retired CEO being chauffeured to a spa appointment.

Back in Germany, a dog used to mostly just be a dog. It lay somewhere in the garden, barked at the mailman every now and then, and had a bowl with “Bello” written on it. That was the entire concept.

Here, meanwhile, you see dogs in designer strollers, cats inside air conditioned backpacks with viewing windows, and tiny poodle mixes with hairstyles better than the average German department manager.

And the fascinating thing is: everybody is completely serious about it.

You sit somewhere in Nanshan in the morning, drinking your coffee, trying to slowly return to life, and at the next table a dog is being served a dessert more beautifully decorated than anything you yourself have eaten in the last six months. Tiny strawberry on top. Heart shaped. Maybe even a mint leaf. While you sit there next to it holding a sandwich that already looks emotionally defeated.

And these strollers.

Everywhere.

At some point you develop a reflex. You don’t even automatically look inside anymore because there’s now roughly a fifty percent chance there’s no baby in there at all, but a Maltese with the facial expression of an emotional support therapist.

What’s especially impressive is the dedication of the owners. And yes, before somebody immediately starts with the asphalt argument again: of course a burning pavement is really bad for dog paws. If there’s no grass nearby, then obviously you pick the dog up for a moment. That goes without saying. But I’m talking more about mornings and evenings, when Shenzhen slowly becomes livable again.

And that’s exactly when you see them everywhere: dogs sitting comfortably inside strollers, sometimes with tiny little fans mounted in front of them, being pushed through Shekou or Futian like international VIP guests on an official state visit. The dog looks left, looks right, enjoys the evening, and overall seems more relaxed than eighty percent of the people around it.

And somehow the whole thing actually works surprisingly well. Because pets here stopped being “just pets” a long time ago.

And honestly, after a while, you start understanding it.

People here work like crazy. For many, an apartment is less “home” and more “the place where the bed and WiFi happen to be.” And then suddenly, every evening, there’s a little dog waiting at the door or a cat sitting on the sofa genuinely happy that you came home. Maybe that’s exactly the reason pets here eventually stop being just animals. Some are treated like family members. Others more like slightly spoiled celebrities with their own evening routines and better hair appointments than their owners.

Naturally, this also creates completely absurd situations.

By now, I’ve seen more dogs inside cafés in Shenzhen than in some European parks. There are pet cafés, pet restaurants, pet boutiques, pet photography studios, and probably somewhere already dog yoga combined with matcha latte therapy.

Honestly, at this point I’m just waiting for the day McDonald’s introduces an official pet menu. Tiny burgers for chihuahuas, organic chicken nuggets for poodles, maybe a salmon based Happy Meal for cats. And somehow I have the strange feeling this would probably only work in Asia.

And of course Shenzhen wouldn’t be Shenzhen if people didn’t immediately turn the entire thing into a full lifestyle concept.

Suddenly there are “pet friendly malls.” Shopping centers with stroller parking for dogs. Airport pet lounges. Entire waiting areas for animals that somehow look more organized than certain international terminals.

Sometimes you walk through Shekou or Futian and see couples radiating exactly the same energy as parents on a Sunday family outing. Except sitting inside the stroller is a tiny poodle looking like it privately invests in Tesla stock.

And the craziest part is this: after a while, you yourself slowly start accepting all of this as perfectly normal.

At first you still think:
“This is completely ridiculous.”

A year later you hear yourself saying:
“Oh, that little corgi has a really nice summer outfit on today.”

And that’s the exact moment you realize Shenzhen has slowly taken possession of your brain.

Of course, there’s another side to all of this too. Because despite all the comedy surrounding stroller dogs and cats inside backpacks, you can tell people here genuinely care about animals. Even street cats often have little bowls, cardboard shelters, or improvised sleeping places hidden somewhere between apartment compounds and shops. Somebody is usually looking after them.

And sometimes the street cats in Shenzhen honestly seem to have a better organized social support system than some humans. Suddenly somebody appears with food, another person leaves water, somebody else builds a tiny rain shelter out of cardboard and tape, and the cat sits in the middle of all of it with the facial expression of a manager generally satisfied with the quality of the service.

And somehow, despite everything, it’s actually pretty charming.

Maybe slightly crazy. Maybe sometimes completely over the top. Maybe the Chihuahua now owns more outfits than its owner and probably has a better hairdresser too. But in a city that can often feel loud, exhausting and permanently rushed, these animals bring back something people almost forgot between all the concrete, skyscrapers and smartphone screens: warmth.

Even if you still occasionally get startled when you compassionately look into a stroller and discover not a baby, but a Pekingese staring back at you with the facial expression of a mildly irritated billionaire.

And if you think Shenzhen has already pushed this concept to the absolute limit, then never go to Hong Kong.

Because over there, they don’t simply continue the idea of treating pets like family members. They add, designer leashes and jewelry, air conditioning, probably a private Instagram account, and then push the entire thing at least ten times further.

But that… is basically the exact same story.

Just inside a smaller apartment and with a far more expensive stroller.

Chris Gassner

May 18, 2026