Introduction
Some people choose China. For John Micah Philippe, it felt more like China had been choosing him for a very long time.
Now 23, the Dutch student just started a master's in computer science and technology at Peking University (PKU) - the 2026 intake. His path to Yan Garden didn't begin with a visa form or a university ranking list. It began at age seven, with kung fu and lion dance.
A First Drumbeat: Kung Fu and Lion Dance
For most of his life, John practiced kung fu and lion dance - over 16 years of it. 'Because of this, Chinese culture was already part of my life long before I ever thought about studying in China,' he says.
Lion dance isn't just a sport. Around it sit festivals, traditions, and a community that gathers for performances. That world became a normal part of his childhood, and it shaped how he saw China: not as a distant abstraction, but as something lived and practiced.
Growing up in a multicultural family, John also noticed early that his background differed from many classmates in the Netherlands. That pushed him toward curiosity about other cultures - and about how different people understand the world.
Outside training, he loved puzzles, video games, history, anime and animation. Looking back, those hobbies quietly built the person he is today: someone who enjoys taking apart complex problems and stepping into worlds unlike his own.
Two Threads: Technology and Culture
At the University of Amsterdam, John studied artificial intelligence and completed his bachelor's. But two threads ran through his life the whole time.
One pointed to technology and logic. The other pointed to culture and the wider world.
China sat exactly where those threads crossed.
From Familiar Culture to a Distant Country
'It's hard to point to the exact moment I became interested in China,' John says. 'Kung fu and lion dance had already accompanied me for most of my life.'
In high school, studying Chinese history turned that familiarity into deeper curiosity. He was drawn to China's long traditions - but equally to the enormous changes happening in its technology and society. History and the present weren't separate to him. One side held cultural tradition; the other held a fast-moving, modernizing country.
Then came the internet. Through social media and Chinese short videos, he began seeing everyday life in China - the cities, the streets, the people. What struck him most was a feeling of shared community and belonging in the videos, something that felt different from the strong emphasis on individual independence in Dutch culture.
He'd gotten to know China through kung fu, understood it through history, and watched it through the internet. Slowly, he wanted to be there in person.
One Missed Exchange, A Clearer Goal
During his bachelor's, John tried to apply for an exchange program to China. Places were decided by lottery - and he didn't get one.
That miss didn't stop him. It clarified things. 'If I can't go as an exchange student, then I'll come here for a master's,' he decided.
When he started shortlisting universities, Peking University quickly stood out. He wasn't just chasing rankings. He wanted a school that was both academically excellent and genuinely embedded in China - a place where he could live the country, not just study about it. PKU's history, reputation, research resources, and the sheer number of teams and labs felt like the right fit.
Beijing itself sealed the decision. John has always loved history and followed technology, and Beijing is a city where both live side by side - centuries-old culture on one street, cutting-edge tech on the next. For someone coming from an AI background, that convergence was exactly right.
The Application Puzzle: Chinese Online Systems
Before ever landing in China, John faced a very practical 'cross-cultural challenge': applying to PKU meant navigating Chinese websites, apps, and online systems - in Chinese.
'Sometimes finding the right page and working out the next step felt like solving a complex puzzle,' he recalls.
Different websites used different logic. Some interfaces were unfamiliar. Some processes even required binding a Chinese phone number - something he couldn't do while still in the Netherlands.
Luckily, he wasn't alone. His girlfriend is Chinese, and in the early stage she helped him work through apps and webpages that only existed in Chinese. Instead of screenshotting and translating every page, he could just ask her.
But he didn't stay dependent. Gradually he learned to handle the online processes himself, and the pages that once confused him became routine.
In hindsight, the application itself became a rehearsal for living in China. It taught him patience, persistence, and a simple lesson: some problems you solve alone, and other times asking for help is its own kind of strength.
Arriving in Beijing
Today John is at Peking University. The complicated forms, unfamiliar systems, and problems that once seemed unsolvable didn't stop him - they became part of the story that carried him to Yan Garden.
His path ran from a kung fu training floor in the Netherlands, to AI classrooms at the University of Amsterdam, to the campus of Peking University. It crosses cultures and fields, but one thread runs through it: the same curiosity that made him take apart puzzles as a kid.
Now, in Beijing - a city where history and technology meet - he'll continue his computer science studies and keep getting to know China through real life and real conversations.
