Cho Chang
Template:HP character Cho Chang (born 1978 or 1979) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series. She is a Ravenclaw student and a year older than Harry. She is described as being a short, very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair. She appears to be very popular as she always seems to be followed by a large group of friends. Cho plays Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and her favorite professional Quidditch team is the Tutshill Tornadoes. Her name seems to imply Chinese descent. She first appeared in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but did not become as prominent a character until the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as Harry's first crush and in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as his first girlfriend. Cho was played by Katie Leung in the fourth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Leung will reprise the role in the fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Role in the series
Harry first meets Cho in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, during his third year (Cho's fourth year) [HP3] during a Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match, in which Cho and Harry are both seekers. He notices she is a "very pretty girl," which makes his stomach "feel funny." The only other notable interaction between them in this book is when Cho wishes Harry good luck before the Quidditch Match against Slytherin and Harry goes bright red.
During Harry's fourth year,[HP4] his crush on Cho develops further. They exchange greetings at the Quidditch World Cup, and he later works up his courage and asks her to be his date to the Yule Ball. However, Cedric Diggory, one of the other champions of the Triwizard Tournament, has already asked Cho out, and the two of them end up dating until Cedric is murdered by Peter Pettigrew (on Lord Voldemort's orders) at the end of the book. Nonetheless, Cho is still kind to Harry: for example, she refuses to wear one of Draco Malfoy's "Support Cedric Diggory/Potter Stinks" badges, a fact for which Harry is grateful.
At the beginning of Harry's fifth year,[HP5] Cho surprises him by seeking him out several times and attempting to have a conversation. Unfortunately, for Harry, these encounters do not go well. The first time, she finds him covered with Stinksap that was accidentally let off by Neville Longbottom's mimbulus mimbletonia, and the second time she tries to talk with Harry, she ends up arguing with Ron Weasley about Quidditch teams. On the third try, when she happens to enter the Owlery while Harry is there, she defends Harry from a suspicious Argus Filch, which pleases Harry.
When invited by Hermione to join Dumbledore's Army, Cho (who brings along her fellow Ravenclaw friend, Marietta Edgecombe) goes against the advice of her parents who wish her to remain on Dolores Umbridge's good side. Cho joins because she is determined to fight against Voldemort after what happened to Cedric in the previous year. As a DA student, however, she has her ups and downs. At first she gets nervous and performs her spells poorly whenever Harry is nearby; later though, she is able to conjure a corporeal Patronus in the shape of a swan.
Cho initiates a kiss with Harry under some mistletoe shortly before Christmas after a DA session, and on St Valentine's Day they go on a date in the all-wizard village of Hogsmeade, but Cho's grief over Cedric's death, her ill-founded jealousy over Harry's friendship with Hermione Granger (who, ironically, tries to advise Harry on how to handle other girls), and Harry's overall inexperience with girls sours the experience.
When Marietta betrays the DA, she is afflicted by the hex performed by Hermione on the piece of parchment, signed earlier by all members of the DA. The hex makes purple pimples spell "SNEAK" across the bridge of her nose and they cannot be removed. When Harry scorns Marietta for the betrayal and Cho defends her, irate at what she considers Hermione's "dirty trick", Harry and Cho's relationship goes downhill. (Reportedly, Marietta's betrayal will instead be committed by Cho in the fifth film.)
Cho makes only one very brief appearance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.[HP6] Harry catches a glimpse of her during the ride on the Hogwarts Express but she hides back in her compartment with Marietta. Harry later mentions in a conversation with Ron that the two of them just "fell apart." This was also Cho's last year of Hogwarts, which means she may or may not be back for book seven. Template:Endspoiler
Name in Translations
In Chinese translations of the Harry Potter novels, Cho's given name is 秋, "Autumn", pronounced "qiū" ("chiou") in Mandarin and "chāu" ("chow") in Cantonese.
In the Traditional Chinese versions, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Cho's name is written as "張秋" ("Chang" first), since historically Chinese names are written with the family name first, followed by given names. However, in the Mainland Chinese version the name is written as "秋·张" ("Chang" last), the middle dot is normally applied to transcribe non-Chinese names, where it is used to separate the given names, coming first, from the surname, coming last.
See also
References
- Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et al. UK ISBN 0-7475-4215-5/U.S. ISBN 0-439-13635-0.
- Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et al. UK ISBN 0-7475-4624-X/U.S. ISBN 0-439-13959-7.
- Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et al. UK ISBN 0-7475-5100-6/U.S. ISBN 0-439-35806-X.
- Rowling, J. K. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et al. UK ISBN 0-7475-8108-8/U.S. ISBN 0-439-78454-9.
- Philippine News Article on Cho Chang
- Harry Potter in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese