And many users were keen to show their appreciation for a man known affectionately as "Brother Horse" after the first character in Musk's Chinese name ... "He's apparently the only American welcome in ...

That was the message state legislators sent Thursday at a ceremony in Manhattan to pre-emptively welcome the Chinese leader before his U.S. visit later in September.

As well as 2015 babies, anyone born in 1919, 1931, 1943, 1967, 1979, 1991 or 2003 also come under the year of the goat, although the Chinese character, yang, can also be translated as sheep or ram.