Learn Chinese through 20 weekly hours of one-on-one intensive Mandarin class in the beautiful southern city of Guilin!

One-on-One Intensive Chinese
When learning Mandarin, one-on-one instruction is by far the best means of rapid improvement. Rather than vying for your teacher's attention, your daily one-on-one lessons with three unique CLI instructors will give you the perfect opportunity to constantly advance and validate your Chinese language skills.

Begin on any Monday of the year (expect during Spring Festival) and immerse yourself in Chinese language and culture with CLI as your guide!

A New Level of Personalized Service
From the moment you arrive in China until the final day of coursework, CLI provides all necessary elements to ensure a highly effective learning experience, including airport pick-up and drop-off, housing accommodations, a comprehensive program orientation and introduction to Guilin, a carefully developed learning curriculum, 24-hour assistance, and much more.

Read a sampling of CLI's student testimonials to hear directly from our former students themselves.

Weekly Activities & Monthly Travel Excursions
In addition to four daily hours (Monday through Friday) of one-on-one instruction, CLI organizes weekly activities and monthly travel excursions designed to immerse students deep within Chinese language and culture. Join us for bamboo boat rides down the Li River, hikes up Guilin’s breathtaking karst mountains, photography excursions to the Longji Rice Terraces, cooking lessons with Chinese chefs, tea house visits to Daoist monasteries, and more.

Check out our Activities Calendar to see what's happening this week at CLI!

Note on Joint Program w/ Guangxi Normal University
If you are interested in the joint program with CLI's university affiliate, please see the College Study Abroad section of our website. Participants of all ages are welcome to study Chinese in this program.

Interested students must begin coursework at the beginning of the university's academic sessions (usually mid-February and early-September) and study Chinese for at least one academic semester.

CLI's Pengyou Program (朋友项目)
Actively engaging in direct cultural exchange is a crucial part of studying in China. In order to help foster this opportunity, CLI has created an optional add-on to your Immersion Program – the Pengyou Program – at no additional tuition cost.

The Chinese word for friend (pengyou, 朋友) includes two moon characters (月) side by side. Only through the passage of time, and with the passage of each moon, can a friendship be built. At CLI, we strive to provide an educational environment that leads to lifelong friendships, and the Pengyou Program is just one way we pursue this goal.

If you choose to take part, CLI will match you with an outgoing student from our local university affiliate who has also applied to join the Pengyou Program. We interview all candidates and make selections primarily based on personality and enthusiasm. We also require all pengyous to speak standard Mandarin, although many may also be excited to practice their English.

By taking part in the Pengyou Program, we ask both you and your pengyou to agree to the following:

1. Local pengyous will take part in your orientation meeting, welcome lunch or dinner, and farewell dinner. CLI pays for these meals.

2. Pengyous will have at least one meal together per week outside of CLI. No other international students are allowed to take part, but your local pengyou can invite his or her own local pengyous. You (the CLI student) are responsible for paying for your and your pengyou's meal, but your pengyou's pengyous pay their own way.

3. You and your pengyou should take part in at least two activities together outside of CLI per month. As with the previous obligation, we strongly encourage that no other international students take part. Pengyous are expected to share the cost, if any, of the activity, but we also encourage you and your pengyou to take part in free or low cost activities. Possible activities include visiting a park, arcade or shopping area, playing sports or board games together, or going to the local market to buy fresh produce to cook a meal together.

If you would like to swap pengyous for any reason, you may change one time per two months of your stay at CLI. In this instance, please inform Leona, CLI's activities coordinator, and she'll gladly accommodate. If interested in taking part in CLI's Pengyou Program, simply select "Sign Me Up!" when prompted on CLI's application form.  :-)


Ashleigh Lanza, Summer 2011
"CLI's teachers are more than instructors – they're lifelines, mentors, and friends. CLI expects and encourages success, which drives its students to surpass their own expectations. CLI provided me with a once in a lifetime experience that I will cherish forever."
- Ashleigh Lanza, Summer 2011

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