Witches, black gowns and broomsticks - it's all just a game

[Photo provided to China Daily]

At the time Liu had been admitted to Peking University, and like many of her schoolmates she was not obliged to take national college entrance examinations, so they started playing the game with students from other grades.

Each of the players has to ride on a broom and while running instead of flying has to keep the broomstick between the two legs.

There are seven members on each team, one seeker, three chasers, two beaters and one keeper. A team can both have man and woman.

Unlike witches and wizards, muggles have to use a white volleyball to replace what is called a Quaffle in the books. If chasers throw the quaffle or the volleyball into one of the three rings on the rival team, then the team gains 10 points.

Similarly, muggles use soft volleyballs to represent what are called Bludges. Beaters throw soft volleyballs onto the members of the rival team to knock the targeted ones out temporarily of the game.

Golden Snitch is a tennis ball contained in a sock that is fastened to the waist of a person, supposedly one wearing golden clothes and good at escaping. When whichever seeker catches the golden snitch, the game is over and the seeker's team wins 30 points.

The game, first played by students in Middlebury, Vermont, in 2005, has become popular among many students in Europe and North America. It is reported that globally there are more than 4,000 Quidditch players in more than 300 teams.