Netizens post pictures of their cats lounging and sleeping on green winter melons. Photo: Screenshot of social media

As summer heat waves sweep across many parts of China, a quirky "cooling phenomenon" has gone viral on social media: cats lazily lounging and sleeping on big, green winter melons, also known as wax gourds.

The vegetable has overtaken pet ice mats and air-conditioned beds to become one of the most popular cooling essentials in the pet community this summer, earning the title of "top star in the cat world" among some pet owners on social media.

Winter melons have the highest water content among all melons, close to 95 percent. Thanks to water's high specific heat capacity and slow heat conduction, melons stay cool for a long time. With excellent heat retention, and natural safety, winter melons - which were oversupplied and sold at rock-bottom prices a couple of months ago - have become the ultimate "natural cooling pillows" for pets.

Short videos and photos of cats hugging winter melons now flood social media platforms, turning the "winter melon cooling method" from a niche trick into a widespread pet-parent consensus.

The trend started when netizens discovered that clean winter melons feel cool and smooth to the touch and maintain a stable low temperature. Cats naturally gravitate toward them. Compared with other pet cooling products, winter melons are completely natural, burden-free, and more cost-effective.

On Xiaohongshu, or Red Note, notes about "sleeping while hugging a winter melon" have gained massive attention. Many pet owners jokingly say, "This summer, every cat must ride on a winter melon."

The craze has spread across the entire animal world - pet dogs and other pets with fur are all enjoying it, and even Hong Tang, or Brown Sugar, a tiger at the Shanghai Zoo, was given its own cooling winter melon.

Fresh produce platforms quickly seized the trend with themed marketing. Dingdong Maicai has launched mini winter melons, 500 grams for 4.99 yuan ($0.74), and taro-flavored mini winter melons, 1 kilogram for 8.69 yuan, promoting them with lines like "naturally icy cool - cats fall in love at first touch and purr happily while sleeping on them."

The platform noted that after repackaging the mini winter melons with a pet-focused theme, sales surged 59 percent compared with the previous week, according to media reports.

Freshippo, Alibaba's flagship retail and grocery chain, jumped in quickly, using adorable photos of cats hugging winter melons as the main image for its mini winter melons, 1 kilogram for 6.99 yuan, with copy reading "natural cooling 'pillow' - cats won't let go."

Freshippo uses a cat hugging s winter melon as the main image for its mini winter melons. Photo: Freshippo

According to data that Freshippo sent to the Global Times, since adopting the cat-themed visuals, mini winter melon sales jumped 77 percent, while overall winter melon sales rose 35 percent. In some cities, supply is struggling to meet rising demand.

Global Times