With over 20 million followers, Dutch-born and China-raised Sander Kole is one of the few Western influencers to find major success in China. His debut song has topped the Chinese charts in just days after release, surpassing global stars like Justin Bieber.
Read here the (Dutch) article published in "De Morgen", a major Belgian newspaper.
English translation of the article:
Written by Joanie De Rijke, Writes for De Morgen
Published on August 13, 2025, De Morgen
Sander Kole, from Belgium to Number One in China: “We’re above artists like Justin Bieber”
With more than 20 million followers, Sander Kole , a Dutchman who grew up in China and also lived in Belgium, is one of the few Westerners to have broken through on Chinese social media. Now, with a song about one of the darkest chapters of the Second World War, he has been at number one in the Chinese charts for weeks.
“Unbelievable, I never thought this song would resonate so much,” says Sander Kole (30). “So many people, young and old, wrote to me saying they cried when they heard our song.”
Together with British singer Tim Moyo, Kole created an English-language track about Unit 731, the secret Japanese program from World War II in which thousands of Chinese civilians were the victims of horrific medical experiments.
People were deliberately infected with the plague, locked in freezing chambers, and subjected to other cruel experiments. None of the roughly 3,000 victims survived. The subject is hardly known in the West, but in China it remains an open wound. Especially painful is the fact that some of those responsible were granted immunity by the United States after the war in exchange for “scientific data.”
“Japan has never officially apologized, and that still causes pain in China.”
The song was released ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. It is not meant as an activist protest, but as a call for awareness and dignity, Kole explains. The idea came from Kole and his Chinese wife, with whom he runs a production company.
In China, the song has exploded in popularity, with more than 290 million views on the Chinese version of TikTok (Douyin) and 33 million on WeChat. On the Western music charts in China, it has been at number one for days.
“That puts us above artists like Justin Bieber.”
Kole bought the rights to the song from Moyo so that everyone can listen to it for free.
“We don’t want to make money from it. It feels wrong to profit from such a history.”
The Dutchman moved to China at the age of seven with his father, who brought the bicycle industry from the Netherlands and Belgium to China. In Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, he learned the language and built a network. The social media channel he started with his wife now has more than 20 million followers.
Kole lived for three years in Sint-Gillis-Waas, Belgium, with his wife before returning to the Netherlands. He still travels to China every few weeks, where he remains active in the bicycle trade and launches cultural projects.
“Showing China in all its facets, both the beautiful and the difficult, is what I want. And when I see that a song can bring people together, I know it was worth it.”
