Why Cho Chang Is a Controversial Name in Harry Potter

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The Harry Potter franchise is full of interesting characters. Cho Chang, Harry’s first love interest and one of the few Asian characters in the main series, played a minor but important role in the franchise. However, her name has attracted some controversy in recent years. Unlike other strong female characters in Harry Potter, whose names are not only real but have deep literary and cultural references, Cho Chang’s name only contains a vague indication of her Asian origin.

At the time of her first appearance, Cho Chang is Cedric Diggory’s girlfriend, and Harry already has a little crush on her. It isn’t until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that Harry and Cho become closer, especially because they’re both mourning Cedric. However, Cho’s character isn’t only problematic because of her name, but the book also mocked her for crying too much and being girly. Cho has been at the center of many critics’ complaints about the Harry Potter series since fans believe she’s not an accurate nor fair portrayal of an Asian female character.

Updated by Alex Roush on September 23, 2024: Harry Potter is a beloved franchise that deserves all its praise, but Cho Chang’s problematic name is just one of many examples of J. K. Rowling’s lazy writing when it comes to diversity. This article was updated to include more information about Harry Potter‘s masked inclusion of minorities, enhance the reader experience, and reflect CBR’s current formatting standards.

Who is Cho Chang in Harry Potter?

Cho Chang’s First On-Screen Appearance Is in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Cho Chang is a secondary character in the Harry Potter franchise and the main character’s first romantic interest. Cho Chang first appeared in the series as Cedric Diggory’s girlfriend, and she quickly became Harry’s first crush. The character was placed in the Ravenclaw house, and she became the Seeker of the house’s Quidditch team. In fact, she was a great fan of the Tutshill Tornados, one of the many recognized Quidditch teams in the Harry Potter series.

However, after a very brief romance between Harry and Cho in the fifth book, the two quickly realize they don’t have much in common. Harry and Cho had a disastrous date at Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop since Cho expected Harry to be more romantic, and she also became increasingly jealous of Harry and Hermione’s close friendship. Later, the relationship takes another turn for the worse when Cho’s friend, Marietta Edgecombe, tells Dolores Umbridge about Dumbledore’s Army. In the movies, Cho Chang herself is the one to discuss the clandestine group, besmirching the character’s image even further. After Harry and Cho’s failed romance, the character became less prominent in the series, both in the movies and in the books.

Cho Chang Is Not a Plausible Name

The Name Doesn’t Make Sense to Any Specific Culture

The main issue with Cho Chang’s name is that it doesn’t make sense for any culture in Asia. Many have pointed out that “Cho” might be a Korean surname. However, it’s unlikely to be used as a first name, like in Harry Potter. Although “Chang” also exists in the Korean language, it’s only used as a surname. It seems weird for a person to be named after two surnames with only one syllable making up for her first name, which is very uncommon in Korean culture.

Similarly, “Chang” can be used as both a surname and a first name in Han Chinese. “Cho,” on the other hand, does not exist in the language. Even in Cantonese, “Cho” is only used as a surname and not a first name. It’s possible that “Cho” as a first name might be the Romanization of “Qui” (Autumn) from Chinese or similar-sounding words from other Asian cultures, which isn’t uncommon for Asian children born in Western society.

Perhaps “Cho” came from Japanese culture, but either way, it seems like a stretch to make “Cho Chang” a plausible name for a person of Asian descent. On top of that, J.K. Rowling never clarified the character’s ethnicity, which makes it an even poorer representation of an Asian character. Since Cho’s parents only appear through mentions in the Harry Potter books, there’s no way of knowing the character’s ancestry and lineage. Some fans also criticize how “Cho Chang” sounds similar to a pejorative phrase that has been used to mock Asian people and how their languages sound, a fact that J.K. Rowling should have taken into account before choosing the name for one of the main love interests in the series.

Cho Chang’s Name Isn’t Her Only Problematic Aspect

The Character Fits Into Several Asian Stereotypes

Cho Chang’s stereotypical portrayal of Asian people might have been the real reason why fans take issue with her name. Cho first appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Harry’s love interest. She dated Cedric and joined Dumbledore’s Army after his death. During The Order of the Phoenix, she sparked a brief romance with Harry but faded out of the film after Dolores Umbridge used Veritaserum to make Cho reveal the location of the group’s meetings.

In other words, Cho Chang plays right into the smart Asian stereotype. She’s portrayed as an intelligent girl from Ravenclaw who does nothing other than date a couple of boys before being unceremoniously written out as a “tattletale.” What’s more, the character is mostly written as a comedy relief. The series mocks Cho Chang because she cries a lot, something that makes sense, taking into account that her ex-boyfriend has just passed away. Additionally, Harry mocks the character for liking a “girly” and romantic place, such as Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop. In fact, Harry eventually ends up with the archetype of the “cool” not-girly girl, Ginny Weasley, who becomes a professional Quidditch player, is a great duelist, and rejects and even mocks femininity.

At the end of the day, it feels like Cho Chang was only part of the Harry Potter series because Rowling felt an obligation to suggest diversity. Characters fans learned to hate, such as Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, all got the redemption arcs they deserved, while Cho’s trajectory, though of smaller importance, abruptly suggests the character never learned from her mistakes. While it’s true that not every character in Harry Potter should be likable and redeemable, the fact that Rowling chose this particular character to fall into controversy suggests that Harry Potter might not be as diverse as fans like to think it is.

The Problem with Harry Potter’s Masked Diversity

The Franchise Preaches Diversity but Fails To Follow Through

Many fans dislike Cho Chang as a character because she’s a poor construction of an Asian character. Cho Chang’s name sounds like the kind of stereotypical name that a person who doesn’t understand any Asian culture would make up, which is a problem in a series that takes so much time crafting the most important names of the Wizarding World, but none of them are Asian.

What’s more, people have also pointed out that Harry Potter doesn’t include any non-British dishes in Hogwarts, which is a problem when taking into account that Great Britain is a multicultural country with people from many different continents and backgrounds, particularly Asia and Africa. This is even worse when considering that the few Asian characters — Cho Chang and Parvati and Padma Patil — are written to be mocked because of their girliness.

The Harry Potter series has been widely criticized for its lack of diversity, not only culturally, but also when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. Both the movies and the book have their share of minority characters, but most of them seem to be there only to fulfill a quota. The thing about inclusion is that minorities will only feel represented in the grand scheme as long as they play a role as relevant as those of the white characters around them. In that sense, Harry Potter‘s world is overwhelmingly white. It fails to reflect the changing ethnic demographics of the UK at the time. There are less than 10 non-white characters orbiting around Harry’s inner circle, and none take an active part in the story’s most important moments.

What’s worse than Harry Potter‘s serious diversity issues is Rowling’s lazy attempts to fix them. In the present, she works hard to give the book series an image of inclusion that was never there in the first place. From claiming that Dumbledore was gay to insisting Hermione is played by a black actress in the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play, the author is constantly trying to push diversity into the canon without having the guts to actually write it in. One thing is claiming a character is part of a minority, another is following the character experiencing the struggles that come with being part of one.

When Jude Law stepped in to deliver a different portrayal of Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts movie series, fans stumbled upon another vague representation of LGBTQ+ tension. Once again, a romance that seemed to exist only inside the creator’s head was put at stake, with a payoff merely suggested in a sequel that won’t likely happen. Today, as inclusion awareness continues to improve, the creative choices used in Harry Potter to advocate diversity strike many fans as merely a passive act.

Some Fans Still Argue in Favor of the Character’s Name

Cho Chang Still Has a Loyal Fan Base

Despite criticisms, some fans are still vocally supportive of Cho Chang, including her name, on places like Reddit. Arguments have been made that it doesn’t matter that the name is stereotypical and not consistent with any one culture because many of the names in Harry Potter, like Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore, are whimsical and, like Cho Chang, not consistent with any specific culture.

Fans also came to the defense of the goblins in the Harry Potter series, which have come under similar scrutiny after Jon Stewart mentioned their apparent basis in antisemitic tropes, like their greediness and features reminiscent of Jewish caricatures. Some fans of the series argue that thinking the goblins are antisemitic is in itself antisemitic. It appears that no matter the argument, there will be loyal fans who come to Rowling’s defense.

The upcoming Harry Potter TV series adaptation has a unique opportunity to compensate for the franchise’s past mistakes. It’s no longer the ’90s, and fans are waiting for an active response to the lack of diversity in the book series that marked their childhoods. The show has the chance to deliver a diverse cast, delve into minority struggles, and finally develop Cho Chang’s character, explaining the origins of her name and expanding her family tree. It could also add more interesting and well-rounded Asian characters that fairly portray people from multicultural backgrounds. The series is currently in development and is slated to premiere in 2026.