As the Chinese New Year of the Loong approaches, the streets of Madrid, the capital of Spain, has continued its tradition of adorning the city with festive Chinese-style decorations. Among them, a cute poster made by the Madrid City Council is particularly eye-catching.

On the poster, a baby loong in red, yellow, and green pops its head out from behind Madrid’s landmark Plaza de Cibeles, grinning broadly and stretching out its two short arms as if to greet onlookers. It is adorable and full of childlike humor. This latest work is part of the Madrid Chinese New Year poster series created by artist Juan Carlos Paz, known by his stage name Baeka.

Since 2016, it has been an annual tradition for the Madrid City Council to release a poster in celebration of the Chinese New Year, with Baeka as the creator of these artworks. “Each poster takes around a month or two to design,” he said, “We combine the Chinese zodiac animal for that year with the photo of a well-chosen iconic landmark in Madrid. The superimposed layers make it look virtually 3D. But in fact, they were painted on like oil paintings.”

As his creations progressed, Baeka gained deeper insights into the Chinese culture, which inspired him to add more cultural elements to his work. “Each creation is preceded by thorough studies in order to respectfully integrate the Chinese culture while maintaining originality. This year, the loong’s horns were designed as tree branches with leaves and small mushrooms on them, and there is a wooden seal with the traditional Chinese character for ‘loong’,” Baeka explained, “A friendly, funny and powerful loong hovering over Madrid symbolizes the fusion of Chinese culture and Madrid. This is the message we aimed to convey in this year’s poster.”