At the Chinese Language Institute we understand and hold a deep respect for the process of gaining fluency in Mandarin. Learning Chinese requires practice and commitment, amongst many elements. While...
The CLI Team
The Best 30 Flickr Photos from Guilin
Guilin is beautiful! Her rivers, lakes, and mountains are only a portion of that beauty — it’s also her people and their culture which help make Guilin such a marvelous city. We spent...
12 Breathtaking Images Of Hong Kong
What can we glean from looking through the eyes of someone else’s world travel? In the case of Peter Stewart, perhaps it’s as simple as the inspiration to travel. In June of 2015 CLI...
Top 12 Videos to Improve Your Chinese from Mandarin HQ
Learning Mandarin is a journey in which a student’s evolution continually occurs across a spectrum of skills — e.g. listening,...
Top 25 Videos from Chinese Class 101
CLI has churned through hundreds of videos by ChineseClass101.com to compile this list of 25 videos covering must-know Mandarin vocabulary. We’ve extracted all of the vocabulary into simple...
10 Useful Videos from Learn Chinese Now
Learn Chinese Now has been posting excellent Mandarin language learning videos to YouTube for over three years. We’ve compiled our 10 favorite videos spanning from beginner- to...
5 TEDx Talks That Inspire Language Learning
We’ve gathered 5 TEDx Talks that cover a variety of techniques you can apply to your own language learning journey. Browse...
3 Helpful Learning Techniques from Hacking Chinese
“I have seldom been taught the most important thing of all: how to learn a language.” – Olle Linge Not...
Photos of Guilin Locals
Photography by Jeff Fried One-on-One Chinese Lessons ...
What Does Guilin Mean?
The names of Chinese cities often reflect physical features of the place they’re in. Beijing 北京 means “Northern Capital”; Hong Kong (Xianggang) 香港 means “Fragrant...
China Travel Tips: Keeping Vegetarian/Vegan
Would you be surprised if we said China is a great and convenient place to be vegetarian/vegan? Our vegetarian/vegan team members at CLI...
Pico Iyer: Surrounded by the Foreign
“… the beauty of being surrounded by the foreign, is that it slaps you awake. You can’t take anything for granted. Travel for me is a little bit like being in love, because...
China Seminars 2015: 一路平安!
Each year, CLI partners with high schools and universities around the world to create one-of-a-kind, fully customizable study experiences...
Walking through an abandoned Chinese fishing village
Let’s meander together through a long abandoned and wildly overgrown Chinese fishing village called Shengsi (嵊泗). Shengsi is...
CLI Featured Photographer: Peter Stewart
Simply put, Peter Stewart’s photography is astonishing. His images, taken throughout China’s Guangxi Province, are vivid yet...
The Four Drivers of Language Learning
To start this week’s post, let’s engage for a moment in a thought experiment. First, imagine losing all ability to communicate with...
Meet the Team: Summer
Name: Summer 刘春平 Hometown: Guilin, Guangxi, China 广西桂林 Job title: Student Activities Manager 学生活动主管 We are...
CLI Featured Photographer: Michael Steverson
Michael Steverson is an American born documentary and travel photographer living in Liuzhou, China. His work portrays the people and...
Student Spotlight: Daniel
CLI’s Student Spotlight series provides insight into the thoughts and experiences of current CLI students. From food to language study...
CLI Featured Photographer: Trey Ratcliff
Trey Ratcliff is a world-renowned travel photographer and publisher of the blog stuckincustoms.com. Trey’s images from China’s...
Happy 2015!
We’re already halfway through our first month of 2015, and Chinese New Year is just around the corner in February. Above are a few...
Farewell, Study Abroad Students!
Last week, CLI said goodbye to a very special group: our fall semester Study Abroad students from SUNY New Paltz. CLI hosted a farewell...
Homestay Potluck Dinner
On Friday, CLI hosted its annual Homestay Potluck Dinner to celebrate our homestay families. Each person brought one dish — and with...
Student Spotlight: Harry
CLI’s Student Spotlight blog series provides insight into the thoughts and experiences of current CLI students. From food to language...
Meet the Team: Susan
Name: Susan 潘姿 Hometown: Yizhou, Guangxi, China 广西宜州 Job title: Study Abroad Manager 留学项目经理 We are...
How Not to Learn a Foreign Language
Remember those endless hours you spent agonizing over Spanish or French grammar in high school? Or all those late nights studying Chinese...
CLI Perspectives: From China to America and back again
This week’s CLI Perspectives post is brought to you by Paul Ambler, a CLI China Study Abroad student with a unique story. Paul was...
A Chinese Thanksgiving
CLI takes great delight in gathering the community together for a celebration – especially if good food is involved. Although not...
Banter & Basketball: My story to conversational Chinese
This week’s CLI Perspectives is brought to you by Avi Patchava, one of CLI’s summer immersion students. Avi completed six weeks of...
Tailor-made Learning: CLI Students suit up
Have you ever wondered where your clothes were made? You’ve probably noticed the tags on your clothing often say “Made in...
Learning Chinese – Achievement at your doorstep
When I was in high school, I studied more than enough years of Spanish to be at a level of slight fluency. At the time, I was swamped with...
CLI Perspectives: When adventure comes a knockin’
This week, CLI Perspectives brings you a post by Abby Hays. Abby is a recent graduate from Virginia Tech and is now in Guilin studying at...
CLI Perspectives: When everything goes wrong
This week, CLI Perspectives brings you a post from Benjamin Horn. Ben, a student from the University of Pennsylvania, tells an epic tail...
CLI Perspectives #21
This week we wrap up The University of North Florida’s contributions to CLI Perspectives. Alex Wright, Morgan Irvin & Ryan...
CLI Perspectives #20
This week the University of North Florida’s contributions to CLI Perspectives continues again. Michele Pierson, Trey Brooks and...
CLI Perspectives #19
University of North Florida’s contribution to CLI Perspectives continues. This week Allison Gordon and Katherine DeJong share some...
CLI Perspectives #18
The second installment in this month’s, University of North Florida themed, CLI Perspectives is courtesy of Maria Khalaf and Robyn...
CLI Perspectives #17
One of CLI’s many joys is welcoming groups of university and high school students to China. This summer, students and faculty from the...
CLI Perspectives #16
Stuart Ratcliff is no stranger to Asia. After traveling in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Nepal, Stuart decided teaching English in Beijing...
CLI Perspectives #15
Bryan Herbert, CLI Immersion student, first came to China through James Madison University on a three month study tour. However, after the...
CLI Perspectives #14
This week’s CLI Perspectives is brought to us by Chris Nguyen. Chris has always loved travelling, but doesn’t like the feeling of...
CLI Perspectives #13
Mark Robinson, founder and president of HandicappedPets.com and the inventor of the Walkin’ Wheels adjustable dog wheelchair,...
Studying Chinese in Nature’s Hot Tub
There may not be snow in Guilin, but winter is still winter and with the changing seasons come new opportunities to experience Chinese...
Guilin is Full of Warm Holiday Cheer
Trees inside living rooms, lights draped on houses, jolly old men in red suits ringing bells outside department stores, and cars pouring...
CLI Perspectives #12
Nati Tamir, former Ambassador of Israel to Australia, New Zealand, and Finland, has been to many places around the world, but not until...
Seeing China through the Eyes of Kindergartners
CLI students spent this past Sunday on a cultural tour of the Guilin countryside. We may have started a little early for some, but after a...
CLI Perspectives #11
As the saying goes, “it’s the little things in life” that are the most important, and CLI Study Abroad student Kelsey...
CLI Perspectives #10
Alex Gavis had never planned on learning Mandarin. In fact, she started heading down the French language road. But after taking a wrong...
CLI Perspectives #9
Mikko Helimo shares his language journey in CLI Perspectives number nine. Mikko was first bitten by the Chinese language bug while...
CLI Perspectives #8
The eighth installment of CLI Perspectives is written by Immersion Program student Jason Rogers. Jason shares his story of trekking the...
CLI Perspectives #7
CLI’s most recent contributor to the CLI Perspectives series is Jason Campbell. Jason Campbell, CLI Immersion Program student, came to...
CLI Perspectives #6
Matt Kao, CLI Immersion Program student, wrote this week’s CLI Perspective. Before coming to CLI, Matt had previously been introduced to...
Students Go Swimming to Find Chinese Culture
Last week, CLI adventured into Guilin’s countryside for an evening of swimming and dining. The beauty of studying Chinese in China is learning and experiencing the Chinese language and culture...
CLI Celebrates the 4th
CLI celebrated the red, white, and blue with its second full house of the summer season, welcoming students from a variety of universities and countries, as well as some Peace Corps volunteers. The...
CLI Perspectives #5
This weeks’s CLI Perspectives story is brought to you by Elia Sommerlad, a true citizen of the world, having lived in Africa, Latin...
Early Summer China Study Tours!
Last week, CLI was delighted to roll out the red carpet for two college-level study tour groups hailing from four different universities. With a completely full house – and overflow into some...
CLI Perspectives #4
This week’s CLI Perspectives blog entry is written by CLI Immersion Program student Cory Donovan. Cory moved to China in January...
CLI Perspectives #3
The weather is heating up in Guilin with summer just around the corner, so today we take a look back at cooler days with one of this...
A Day in Paradise
An adventurous group of CLI students and teachers found themselves in paradise this weekend – a fool’s paradise. 愚自乐园, or Yuzi Paradise, translates roughly to “Fool’s Paradise”....
CLI Holiday-Family-Birthday Extravaganza
With Chinese Immersion Program student Mikko having just shared the beauty of Guilin with his visiting parents, CLI was delighted to welcome more family members to China this week: Dan’s mother and...
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