Cats
The creature depicted, while similar to
Boym's illustration, was the size of a small bear and is shown chasing deer, rather than mice!
In this it resembles a wolverine,
rather than a marten.
Italian Jesuit Martino Martini had
visited China in the 1650s and
published Novus Atlas Sinensis in
1655. In the section on Peking
Province, Martini described a race of
white, long-haired and long-eared
cats found in the region. He wrote
annaabi.ee 
