Draco Malfoy: The unlikely Lunar New Year mascot in China

An unlikely Lunar New Year mascot has popped up in China this year – Draco Malfoy.

Tom Felton is best known for his role in the Harry Potter series, but now, the actor is also making an appearance in some Chinese houses, with e-commerce sites selling festive decor prominently featuring his face.

His sudden popularity is thanks to his Chinese translation of his name Malfoy, Ma-er-fu. It contains the words for horse and fortune, ringing especially auspicious for the upcoming Year of the Horse.

Harry Potter is hugely popular in China, with hundreds of millions of books sold. A re-release of the series’ first film in 2020 grossed more than 90 million yuan ($13.6m; £9.4m) in three days.

Ahead of Lunar New Year this month, Chinese households typically decorate their doors with couplets – a set of auspicious writings heralding health and prosperity in the new year.

Others decorate their houses with fuzi – red square papers printed with the Chinese word for prosperity.

The fuzi are commonly hung upside down to symbolise luck arriving in the household, as the Chinese word for upside down has the same pronunciation as the word for arrival.

On Chinese social media, pictures show some users sticking couplets or upside down pictures of Malfoy’s signature smirk.

Merchants on e-commerce site Taobao are also seizing on the trend, coming up with stickers and magnets featuring the Harry Potter character.

Others began sharing photos of the character, saying: “Share this image for good fortune”.

“[It’s an] oriental new year with magical elements,” one user on social media site Weibo commented.

“Felix Felicis!” said one comment, a reference to a potion in the series that makes the drinker lucky for a period of time.

The Malfoy themed Lunar New Year decor has even caught the eye of actor Felton, who reshared an Instagram story about his character becoming a “symbol of Chinese New Year in China”.

His acknowledgement sparked even more excitement on Chinese social media, with many fans praising him with the hashtag “Malfoy himself is 100% hilarious”.

The wizard franchise enjoys a fervent and huge fanbase in China – and Warner Bros Discovery has announced plans to open the largest Making Of Harry Potter studio tour in Shanghai in 2027.