BEIJING: With the Year of the Horse fast approaching, one golden mane has been decorating the doors of many netizens’ homes in China.
But instead of a horse, that mane belongs to Draco Malfoy of the Harry Potter series, who has become an unexpected symbol of good fortune this Chinese New Year.
Many netizens on Chinese social media platforms Douyin and Xiaohongshu have posted videos of themselves sticking a red square-shaped piece of paper with Malfoy’s signature smirk on their doors, walls and even refrigerators.
Malfoy’s name in Chinese (ma er fu) bears characters that mean horse (ma) and good fortune (fu).
It is also a play on the phrase ma lai fu, which loosely translates to welcoming good fortune in the Year of the Horse.
Some have even stuck their Malfoy posters upside down, mimicking the pasting of traditional fu posters upside down to symbolise good fortune arriving.
The character is played by British actor Tom Felton in the original Harry Potter film series.
The poster is on sale on Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao, while people have also been printing their own versions of it.
The phenomenon has gained attention on other social media platforms, including TikTok, X and Reddit.
A TikTok video posted on Jan 31 explaining the trend has garnered more than 1.5 million views and 186,000 likes as at Feb 2, with many viewers amused by the character being a positive symbol when he is known for being a villain in the series.
One user wrote: “Chinese people are genuinely so funny I love this.”
Taking reference from Malfoy’s catchphrase – “My father will hear about this!” – several commenters quipped: “Does his father know about this?”
Now, everyone will hear about this. - The Straits Times/ANN
