Actor Tom Felton puts up poster of Harry Potter character Draco Malfoy in nod to CNY wordplay

NEW YORK – English actor Tom Felton is a good sport after his Harry Potter character Draco Malfoy became an unexpected symbol of good fortune this Chinese New Year.

On Feb 17 – the first day of Chinese New Year – the 38-year-old put up a traditional New Year poster with his own face on it on his dressing room door in a video shared by Harry Potter On Broadway on Instagram.

“How could we not!? Happy Chinese New Year,” said the caption. Felton is currently in New York playing a grown-up version of the

Malfoy character in Harry Potter And The Cursed Child on Broadway

.

Malfoy, a Hogwarts adversary of Harry Potter in the iconic book series and subsequent films, has become an unlikely icon himself across China in recent weeks, popping up in memes, on billboards and as festive home decor. It is all thanks to an irresistible bit of wordplay.

When the Potter phenomenon reached China, “Malfoy” was transliterated as “Ma er fu”, which includes the characters for “horse” (ma) and “fortune” (fu). That pairing makes him a particularly appropriate bearer of auspicious tidings in the Year of the Horse.

The Potter films (2001 to 2011) inspire nostalgia in many Chinese viewers, as they were first released in China during a period when going to the movies was becoming a more common experience.

Online vendors have churned out cheap holiday merchandise plastered with images of Felton, who plays the character in the films, allowing anyone to take home a piece of the young wizard for just a few yuan.

Even the Chinese government has joined in the fun. State-run channel CCTV-6 screened Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) on Feb 17.

Meanwhile, the Feb 17 social media post by Harry Potter On Broadway has delighted fans in China.

“He even knew to post it upside down,” marvelled one person posting on Chinese social media network Weibo. That is because of another bit of wordplay: Traditionally, the “fu” character in Malfoy’s name is hung upended on doors because the phrase “reversed fu”, or “fu dao”, sounds like “fortune has arrived”.

On Feb 19, Felton added on his social media accounts a photo of himself standing in front of traditional Chinese couplets and more Malfoy decor.

“Happy Chinese New Year,” he wrote in English.

The actor may not have anticipated that he would be venturing into tricky geopolitical territory, however, with his caption. Social media users identifying themselves as being from Taiwan, Vietnam and elsewhere have weighed in to criticise him for using that phrase instead of Lunar New Year, saying that the wording excludes them.

“Correction: It’s Happy Lunar New Year unless you’re planning to go to China to make money,” one wrote.

Others pushed back, noting that the wordplay works only in the context of mainland China. In Taiwan, Malfoy was transliterated as “Ma fen”, without the “fortune” character.

The Potter franchise has long been popular in China, the world’s second-largest film market, even though the movies were released at a time when the country had far fewer cinemas, distributors and box office heft. All eight films were re-released there theatrically in 2024.

Universal Studios Beijing has a Harry Potter-themed area, and Warner Brothers has announced it will open a Harry Potter studio tour attraction at an amusement park in Shanghai in 2027. NYTIMES