Afu Thomas

Afu was born as Thomas Derksen, on 26 October 1988, into a Aussiedler family in Gummersbach, West Germany, which later moved to Marienheide where Afu was raised.{{cite web|author=Fu, Beimeng|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/beimengfu/german-thomas-chinese-husband|title=This German Man Is China's Newest Internet Celebrity, Believe It Or Not|work=Buzzfeed News|date=2016-04-07|access-date=2020-02-09}} He is the youngest of six children of Maria, a chef, and Peter Derksen, an engineer, preceded by three brothers and two sisters. He is of Volga German descent, his ancestors emigrated to Russia with Catherine the Great and established "Petersdorf", which literally means "Peter Town".{{cite web |author1=Afu Thomas |title=这里是中国，对面竟然是俄罗斯？！ 【德国家庭的中国俄羅斯边境之旅】 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glb9TEvAuTY |website=YouTube |access-date=29 August 2022 |language=zh |date=12 November 2017}} 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.

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 {{ill|Kreissparkasse Köln|de}} he studied at Ruhr University Bochum, taking courses about business and Chinese. From 2013 to 2014, he attended Fudan University, and has lived in Shanghai since 2016. He is fluent in Mandarin and has been learning the Shanghainese dialect.{{Cite news|date=May 28, 2016|title=Interview: German guys turned into Chinese Internet celebrities|language=zh|work=Deutsche Welle|url=https://www.dw.com/zh/%E4%B8%93%E8%AE%BF%E5%BE%B7%E5%9B%BD%E5%B0%8F%E4%BC%99%E6%91%87%E8%BA%AB%E5%8F%98%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E7%BD%91%E7%BA%A2/a-19276905}}

His videos depict his experiences in Shanghai. His wife and two employees help Derksen manage his social media profiles,{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/big-in-shanghai-german-internet-star-thomas-derksen/a-37744040|title=Big in Shanghai – German Internet Star Thomas Derksen |work=Deutsche Welle|date=2017-05-29}} - German version: "[https://www.dw.com/de/ein-deutscher-internetstar-in-shanghai/a-37732809 Ein deutscher Internetstar in Shanghai]" including Bilibili, {{ill|Meipai|zh|美拍}}, Tencent QQ, and Sina Weibo. He has expressed an interest in the Chinese e-commerce model,{{cite web|url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/23/c_136548928.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807125200/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/23/c_136548928.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 7, 2020|title=Afu, a German Internet celebrity: I want to bring Chinese online shopping home |publisher=Xinhua|date=2017-08-23|access-date=2020-02-08}} writing a letter in 2017 to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on how Germany could follow China in its cashless payment system.{{Cite news|last=Dave Hicks|date=September 11, 2017|title=How China's Famous Foreigners Double as Diplomats|work=Sixth Tone|url=https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1000838/how-chinas-famous-foreigners-double-as-diplomats}}{{Cite news|last=Lea Deuber|date=July 26, 2019|title=Rudi Carrell for the Chinese|language=de|work=Süddeutsche Zeitung|url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/leben/comedy-rudi-carrell-fuer-chinesen-1.4537820}} In June 2019, he was reported to have 15 million fans in the country.{{Cite web|date=June 17, 2019|title=15 million fans - This German is famous in China|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCJl6x0e_Pk|website=Galileo|language=de}}

In February 2020, he uploaded a video interview with German virologist {{ill|Rolf Hilgenfeld|de}} 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".{{Cite web|date=July 30, 2020|title=Fudan Alumnus from Germany becomes online influencer in Shanghai|url=https://www.fudan.edu.cn/en/2020/0730/c344a106018/page.htm|access-date=2020-12-16|website=Fudan University}}{{Cite web|last=Thomas阿福|date=February 3, 2020|title=CORONAVIRUS {{!}} Don't isolate CHINA, isolate the VIRUS 隔离病毒，不隔离爱|website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H7Kl2EjAuY|access-date=2020-12-16}}{{Cite news|date=2020-02-03|title=Concerned about the epidemic {{!}} young people on the video platform|language=zh|work=Xinhua|url=https://xinhuanet.com/2020-02/03/c_1125524429.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203161443/http://www.xinhuanet.com/2020-02/03/c_1125524429.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 3, 2020}}

In February 2023 Derksen took fellow German China-YouTuber Christoph Rehage (The Longest Way) to court after Rehage had published a reaction video covering the satirical Golden Toady of the CCP Award ({{zh|c=奶共金奶奖}}) presented by Chinese human rights activist Yutong Su to Derksen for his alleged propaganda work in favor of the Chinese Communist Party,{{Cite news|last=陳嫺蓉|date=January 10, 2023|title=中國側翼辦春晚遭踢館! 德網紅阿福喜提「奶共金奶獎」網友笑 : 亞琛人可以啊！|language=zh|work=Yahoo! News|url=https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E5%81%B4%E7%BF%BC%E8%BE%A6%E6%98%A5%E6%99%9A%E9%81%AD%E8%B8%A2%E9%A4%A8-%E5%BE%B7%E7%B6%B2%E7%B4%85%E9%98%BF%E7%A6%8F%E5%96%9C%E6%8F%90-%E5%A5%B6%E5%85%B1%E9%87%91%E5%A5%B6%E7%8D%8E-%E7%B6%B2%E5%8F%8B%E7%AC%91-%E4%BA%9E%E7%90%9B%E4%BA%BA%E5%8F%AF%E4%BB%A5%E5%95%8A-043920801.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACZ3AsIov8u8GkaYGv_GTmDhJGaPplh86GDaH8pDhOlnFswX-mnLZ6-lPhTIoL3VToiBL6eI-Qyhm_1_61fOaqvqhTKhb9iv9s9as1BbLOg8pLdUl3ZeV8cTiMwVk7WjgRrS6ZTDHqjA5KEiYOkAEueWbea1iPk52UUfNPgkzUG2}} Derksen claiming in his complaint to court that his right to privacy had thus been violated, demanding from Rehage a payment of 10,000 euros in compensation and the permanent deletion of related publications from the internet. On February 13, 2023, the Frankfurt am Main District Court ruled in favor of Rehage and dismissed the case, declaring in its opinion that it was well within Rehage's freedom of speech to publicly express his views on the matter and ordered Derksen to cover all costs related to the trial.{{cite court |litigants= Thomas Derksen v. Christoph Rehage |court= Landgericht Frankfurt am Main |opinion= Az. 2-03 O 113/23 |date= February 13, 2023}}

• 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
• Propaganda in China

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/sino-german-marriage-stuff-of-viral-videos-in-china/av-48303027|title=Sino-German marriage stuff of viral videos in China|work=Deutsche Welle|date=2019-04-27}} - Video
• {{cite news|author=Richter, Amelie|url=https://www.welt.de/regionales/nrw/article160110590/Ein-Rheinlaender-wird-in-China-zum-Internethit.html|title=Ein Rheinländer wird in China zum Internethit|newspaper=Die Welt|date=2016-08-12|language=de}}

• {{official website|url=https://www.afuthomas.de/}}
• [https://www.germancentreshanghai.com/en/book-presentation-afu/ Review: Book presentation with Afu Thomas] - German Centre for Industry and Trade Shanghai, BayernLB Group

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Category:Living people

Category:1988 births

Category:Social media influencers

Category:German expatriates in China

Category:German Internet celebrities

Category:People of Volga German descent

Category:People from Gummersbach

Category:Ruhr University Bochum alumni

Category:Fudan University alumni