Compiled by OON JUN-YANG, BEH YUEN HUI and R. ARAVINTHAN
A PLAYFUL joke about being bored during the school holidays unexpectedly escalated for a six-year-old girl in China, who ended up receiving many exercise books from online strangers.
Oriental Daily Online reported that the girl, who lives in Qingyuan, Guangdong province, had posted several short videos saying she had nothing to do during the winter break.
In one clip, she joked: “I’m really free. If you have any problems, tell me and I’ll see if I can help you make things worse.”
Her cheeky comments amused many viewers and went viral.
However, some netizens decided to “punish” her boredom by sending her schoolwork.
After discovering the address of her parents’ clothing shop, people began mailing her large numbers of test papers and exercise books.
The girl’s mother, surnamed Xu, said her daughter has also received snacks and toys.
“We let her do a little each day. Later, we’ll sort through the books and see if any of her classmates need them,” she said.
> Sin Chew Daily reported that Draco Malfoy, an iconic villain from the Harry Potter series, has unexpectedly become the mascot of the Year of the Horse in China.
This is because his name is translated as “Ma Er Fu” in Chinese, meaning “lucky horse”.
Chinese netizens have played on the homophonic phrase Ma Er Fu dao (arrive), which means “good fortune arrives with the horse”, turning his portrait into Chinese New Year decorations adorned with auspicious phrases.
British actor Tom Felton, who played Malfoy, reposted a report featuring the sales of Malfoy-themed Lunar New Year couplets on social media.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
