Afu Thomas

Afu was born as Thomas Derksen, on 26 October 1988, into a Aussiedler family in Gummersbach, Germany,[1] which later moved to Marienheide where Afu was raised.[2] He is the youngest of six children of Maria, a chef,[3] and Peter Derksen,[3] an engineer, preceded by three brothers and two sisters. He is of Volga German descent, his ancestors emigrated to Russia with Catherine the Great.[3] His family returned to Germany from the Soviet Union in 1987, and Afu is the only child of his parents who was born in Germany.[3]

As a student at Engelbert-von-Berg-Gymnasium Wipperfürth, he took Chinese for two years there and did a student exchange trip to China in 2007, his first time in the country. After briefly working in banking at Kreissparkasse Köln he studied at Ruhr University Bochum, taking courses about business and Chinese. From 2013 to 2014, he attended Fudan University,[1] and has lived in Shanghai since 2016.[2] He is fluent in Mandarin and has been learning the Shanghainese dialect.[4]

His videos depict his experiences in Shanghai.[2] His wife and two employees help Derksen manage his social media profile,[5] including Bilibili,[2] Meipai, Tencent QQ, and Sina Weibo.[5] He has expressed an interest in the Chinese e-commerce model,[6] writing a letter in 2017 to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on how Germany could follow China in its cashless payment system.[7][8] In June 2019, he was reported to have 15 million fans in the country.[9]

In February 2020, he uploaded a video interview with German virologist Rolf Hilgenfeld who was in China at the time to assist with the COVID-19 situation; the video garnered more than 3.2 million views on Bilibili. He later followed with a video (where he spoke English instead of Chinese or German) titled "Fight the Virus not China".[10][11][12]

• Und täglich grüßt der Tigervater: Als deutscher Schwiegersohn in China, 2018, ISBN 978-3-641-23907-7
• Kartoffelbrei mit Stäbchen: drei Chinesen, fünf Länder, sieben Tage – mit meiner chinesischen Familie auf Hochzeitsreise in Europa, 2021, ISBN 978-3-453-60573-2

• Lee and Oli Barrett - British social media figures in China
• Dashan - Canadian television personality in China
• Raz Gal-Or - Israeli social media figure in China
• David Gulasi - Australian internet celebrity active in China
• Amy Lyons - Australian internet celebrity active in China
• Winston Sterzel - South African social media figure in China
• China–Germany relations

• "Sino-German marriage stuff of viral videos in China". Deutsche Welle. 2019-04-27. - Video
• Richter, Amelie (2016-08-12). "Ein Rheinländer wird in China zum Internethit". Die Welt (in German).

• Official website
• Review: Book presentation with Afu Thomas - German Centre for Industry and Trade Shanghai, BayernLB Group