If your feed has a cat that stands up on two legs, freezes, lunges sideways and snaps back, then crouches into a back kick and stares at the camera, you have met the Shan Shen Bu cat meme. This post covers where it comes from and the ways I know to get your own cat or dog into it. I built one of the tools below (Shan Shen Bu Cat & Dog AI), so read my entry with that in mind.
Where the meme comes from
Shan Shen Bu (闪身步, "flash step") started as a folk dance tutorial filmed at the Beijing Dance Academy in the 1990s, with Zhao Tiechun and Ming Wenjun. The stiff stand, the sudden lunge to one side and the snap back is the whole joke. The video went viral again in October 2026, and people began swapping in AI-made animals. One widely shared version was an AI shrimp doing the step on the tutorial's blue stage. After that came white-cat versions, and CapCut and MemeCut templates built around them.
The original tutorial is on YouTube if you want to watch the real thing (search "shanshenbu" or "闪身步"). Chinese hospitals have reported young people getting hurt trying the real step, so warm up if you film yourself.
Five ways to make your own pet version
Written on 8 November 2026. My notes on other tools come from their public demos, not hands-on use.
1. Film your pet doing it
Free, and honestly the funniest result. In practice, cats and dogs do not lunge on cue. Expect a lot of treats and a lot of failed takes. Standing a pet up on its hind legs is not something I would force.
2. The CapCut "Shanshenbu Cat Meme" template
Free to open in CapCut. From the demo videos I watched, the same white cat does the same moves over a different background each time (a tea field, a forest). So it puts the meme's cat on a picture; it does not make your own pet dance. I have not used the template myself, only watched the demos.
3. The MemeCut "Shanshen Cat" template
Same idea as the CapCut one: a ready-made cat over a new backdrop. Good if you just want to post the trend quickly and do not need it to be your animal. Again, based on the demos, not hands-on use.
4. A general AI video app with free trial credits
You upload a photo and write the prompt yourself. This works if you are willing to describe the stiff stand, the sideways lunge, the snap back and the back kick in words and retry a few times. The result may not come out as the flash step, and the free credits usually run out after a handful of tries.
5. Shan Shen Bu Cat & Dog AI (the one I built)
You upload one clear whole-body photo of your own cat or dog, one pet per photo, no people in it. The AI starts from your photo and stands the pet up where the photo was taken, then runs the stiff stand, the sideways lunge and snap back, the crouching back kick and the stare. You choose 5, 10 or 15 seconds, vertical (9:16) or wide (16:9), 480p or 720p. The output is an MP4 with no watermark, usually ready in a few minutes. It is made with ByteDance Seedance 2.0.
Limits: it is not free. A 5-second 480p video is $4.99 and a 10-second 720p one is $5.99, or you can use credits (packs start at $6.99). There is no sign-up for a single video. The sound is a drum and gong beat the AI makes for your video, so if you want the trend's original audio, turn the sound off and pick it inside TikTok when you post. It is not the original clip and does not use it. It will not animate people, children or public figures.
Try it here: Shan Shen Bu Cat & Dog AI
Which one should you pick?
- You want the quickest post and any cat will do: a CapCut or MemeCut template.
- You want your own pet, and you enjoy tinkering: a general AI video app and a lot of retries.
- You want your own pet with no prompt writing and can pay a few dollars: option 5.
- You want the funniest real footage and have a very patient animal: option 1.
If you try any of these, I would like to hear how the pet version turned out in the comments.
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