Driven by his father's words that "one day, China would be the global power, the leading power," Thomas William Whyke from Sheffield, the UK, came to Zhejiang Province to study contemporary China about 15 years ago. Over the past decade, he has taken on many roles: becoming a member of a Chinese family in Ningbo City, serving as an assistant professor at the University of Nottingham's Ningbo campus, and researching contemporary Chinese animation. How have these roles shaped his understanding of China and its culture? And do his father's words still ring true today?