It’s the year of the horse in the Chinese calendar but a symbol from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is making waves among the younger generation in China.
Instead of a horse, Draco Malfoy, Harry’s sworn nemesis from the Slytherin house, has taken on the mantle of good fortune this Chinese New Year.
Chinese social media platforms Douyin and Xiaohongshu are abuzz with videos of people sticking a red square-shaped piece of paper with Malfoy’s signature smirk on their doors, walls and even refrigerators.
But this is not a random social media trend. There is a reason Malfoy made it to China this new year. Malfoy’s name in Chinese (pronounced as ‘ma er fu’) contains characters that translate to horse (ma) and good fortune (fu).
The Chinese translation is also a clever play on the phrase ma lai fu, which means welcoming good fortune in the Year of the Horse.
Some pictures also show people sticking their Malfoy posters upside down instead of pasting traditional animal-themed posters for good fortune every year.
The posters featuring Malfoy are on sale on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao. However, some people are printing out their own versions.
This has piqued the attention of Potterheads outside China, prompting memes on social media.
“I love this for him, he just never fades,” wrote a Harry Potter fan on Reddit.
“Year of the Dragon - aka Year of Draco. Year of the Snake - aka Year of the Slytherins. Year of the Horse - aka Year of the Malfoys,” another Redditor wrote.
“I saw this on Instagram earlier. Hilaaaaarious,” came another comment.
The character is played by Tom Felton in the Harry Potter film series. “Does Tom Felton know about this?” a fan asked cheekily on Instagram.