A new trend has overtaken Chinese and Korean social media: young people are posting photographs and videos of themselves crouching down on the ground and holding their elbows above their heads.

It looks confusing at first, but taking a single glance at their shadows instantly paints the full picture: it looks just like a kitty sitting down.

Who started the cute trend, and how to make the shadow yourself? Learn everything there is to it in our brief explainer.

What Is Cat Shadow Trend?

Cat Shadow Trend, also referred to as Cat Shadow Photo, is a social media trend that involves posting a picture of yourself making a cat shadow. Chinese, Korean and now Western social media have been filled with hundreds of photographs and videos of people crouching down to make cat-like shadows with their bodies, and some have even been editing in tails.

This is what these pictures look like:

Where Does Cat Shadow Trend Come From, And Who Is The Girl In The Original Picture?

The trend started on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, in late April 2025, where users have been sharing their photographs and videos with the 猫影子照片 hashtag.

What made the trend go viral was a post made by Douyin user @果汁酒, who on May 3rd posted a photograph of herself doing the shadow.

While this was the photograph that would go viral – on May 4th it was reposted on Tumblr, and some four days later X user @bugbug000 made a repost that had since been seen over 111 million times – it wasn't the image that started the trend, as some posts found on Douyin go back to late April.

After @果汁酒's post blew up, the trend spread further, gaining particular popularity among K-pop singers who did the pose en masse, posting photographs with the 고양이 그림자 hashtag.

Members of LE SSEARAFIM, NMIXX, and Enhypen — these are just a few of those who have already taken part in the trend, while K-pop fans have been asking idols to take part in the trend on X and on South Korea's Weverse app.

(K-pop idol Hanbin was among those who shared a Cat Shadow photo.)

How To Do The Cat Shadow?

"But wait, I'm human, how can I even make a cat shadow?" you might ask. The answer is quite simple: all you need to do is follow these easy steps:

• Find a light source able to cast a good shadow. Headlights or a street lamp can both work.

• Crouch down on the ground in front of the light so it casts your shadow on the ground or a wall.

• Cross your arms and put your elbows in front and slightly above your head. Their shadow should form the cat's ears.

• Finally, uncurl your index, middle and ring finger on both hands. If you've done everything right, they should form your cat's whiskers.

• Have someone take your picture!

• (Optional) Use an app to edit in a cat's tail. It can be as simple as drawing it with a gray marker in the standard photo editor on your phone.

What Are Cat Shadow Trend Redraws?

Like every good meme, Cat Shadow Trend is more than just making the shadow and sharing pictures with each other. @果汁酒's photograph not only made the trend popular in South Korea and the West, but has also been inspiring awesome redraws where VTubers and your favs rather than people who have three dimensions did the shadow.

(Art by @shadowdiahrea)

And it's been more than just cats, too! Rabbit shadow? Bat shadow? Fox shadow? You've got it, and there are bonus points in store if it fits the character, too.

(Art by @tabakko)

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For the full history of the Cat Shadow Trend, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.