Mom never let me play with Tigers - is she a traditional Chinese mom?

BBC article: Tiger Kills Girl at Chinese Zoo
In Chinese culture, tigers have many positive qualities - valor, intelligence, the ability to scare away demons, virility (resulting in the cruel and just plain gross practice of consuming tiger blood/parts) - but no ancient Chinese proverbs or traditions I know of suggest it would be a good idea to actually get up close to a real tiger.

In a lot of Chinese traditions, something that looks like the real thing is actually as good as the real thing. Thus, tiger statues and designs suffice for keeping demons away - much more convenient than owning a large, live carnivore. This zoo and family clearly forgot the wisdom of that custom, providing anecdotal support to recent survey results claiming that Chinese people are losing touch with tradition. 45% of 13, 580 Chinese survey respondents stated they knew nothing of the meaning of traditional Chinese festivals. And by the way, it's your (yes you, reader of my blog) fault: 1/2 of those polled blamed it partly on the rising popularity of "foreign festivals," such as Christmas and Valentines Day.