The Year of the Horse has found an unlikely new mascot – and no, we’re not talking about kukuma (哭哭吗). It’s Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter’s collegiate nemesis. Though he might not seem like an ambassador for Chinese New Year, his face is being stuck up on people’s front doors, he’s appearing on good luck charms, and is – for this year, at least – associated with good fortune.
As with most of the bizarre things we cover on Dao Insights, this begins online. As with most things online, an exact origin is hard to pin down. What we do know is that somewhere down the tangled line the name Malfoy in Chinese (马尔福) was noted to contain the words ma and fu – horse and fortune.
2026 marking the start of the year of the horse, this seems all too auspicious. Now Draco Malfoy is being slapped across traditional Chinese New Year decorations. Those decos look like red diamonds inked with the character fu (福). They’re stuck on people’s front doors to bring fortune to the household in the year to come – often upside down as the word ‘upside down’ sounds a lot like the word ‘arrive’ in Chinese.
He’s also made it onto fridge magnets and stickers, with Taobao merchants quick to monetise the trend. Social media has been sharing the news, and it’s even reached the actor himself. Yes, Tom Felton has shared a post on Instagram about becoming a symbol of Chinese New Year.
Draco Malfoy: the truly unlikely face of Chinese New Year
Harry Potter, as you might have gathered is very popular in China. Since translated versions of the Harry Potter series went on sale in China in the year 2000, around 200 million copies have been sold. Little doubt JK Rowling expected her character to become the face of the Lunar New Year 26 years later.
But that right there is the joy of covering China: you wake up one morning and a British fictional villain, miscast as luck incarnate through a phonetic accident, has been speed-run through e-commerce and stuck on a front door. What a heady mix of superstition and supply chain support. We wish you a very Draco Malfoy Chinese New Year.
