I have studied many languages in university classes, in group classes outside of university settings, and one-on-one with private tutors, and I have never made so much progress so quickly.
Students and teachers are the core of everything we do.
We built the school we wished existed when we were learning Chinese. Since 2009, CLI has brought together one-on-one instruction, full immersion in Guilin, and a close community of teachers, students, and friends.
Each Immersion Program student studies with three teachers for 20 hours a week. Outside class, Guilin gives you hundreds of small reasons to use what you learned: ordering lunch, asking for directions, or chatting with a local friend.
The one-on-one tutoring is absolutely stellar. Completely irreplaceable.
Ronnie, 36 · United States
These six parts show up in the details of each day, from how your teachers coordinate to the people you meet around Guilin.
Moving to China to study a language involves much more than choosing classes. We help with the practical details before you leave, meet you when you arrive, and stay available throughout your program.
That support includes visa guidance, airport or train station pickup, housing, orientation, an introduction to Guilin, and 24-hour help when you need it.
Our goal is simple: give you the time and confidence to focus on learning Chinese.
CLI’s professionalism completely removes any travel anxiety.
Many of the people who shaped CLI in its earliest years are still closely involved today. Echo, Molin, Avril, Kolok, Dayong, Nancy, Bradford, and Robert all joined the project in 2009 or 2010 and remain active at CLI in 2026.
Together, our team has welcomed more than 5,000 students to Guilin. The principle has stayed the same since day one: put students, teachers, and the community first.
CLI’s directors have more than 20 years of combined experience in China and hold master’s degrees from Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Guangxi Normal University. Co-founder Bradford is currently pursuing a PhD in cognitive science as applied to learning at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Each of CLI’s directors speaks Chinese fluently and remains closely involved in CLI’s daily work.
Dayong, our longest-serving teacher, joined in August 2009 and remains an integral part of the team to this day. Meet the team.
One-on-one lessons give you the time to ask questions, work through difficult points, and use new Chinese throughout each class.
Immersion Program students study for 20 hours each week with three teachers. Together, they cover reading and writing, listening and speaking, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and review. Your teachers coordinate so that each lesson builds on the last.
Outside class, you keep using Chinese around the Center and throughout Guilin. Students who want university credit can also enroll through Guangxi Normal University. Many of the friendships and professional connections that begin here continue long after students return home.
In my short 3 weeks here, I made more progress than I had in the past 9 months.
I went from beginning HSK 1 to starting HSK 5 from August to January.
CLI’s founders chose Guilin after traveling widely through China and having disappointing language-study experiences elsewhere.
Guilin is a full-fledged city, but it is compact, relaxed, and easy to get around. It has a lively downtown, plenty of southern food, and quick access to the Li River and surrounding countryside. People tend to be approachable, and life here costs much less than it does in Beijing or Shanghai.
English is not widely spoken, so Mandarin quickly becomes part of your everyday routine. You use it to order lunch, ask for directions, shop at a market, and talk with people in your neighborhood.
Visit our Guilin page for a closer look at the city and daily life here.
Guilin forces you to use Chinese. In Guilin, the environment is 100% Chinese.
There are rarely English translations and most people only speak Chinese or the local dialect so it forces you to use what you are learning.
CLI’s relationships across China allow us to build custom educational programs around the goals of a school, university, or other organization.
Since 2009, we have arranged discussions, lectures, and visits with companies, universities, government offices, cultural organizations, and local communities, including:
A program might include a school visit, tea with Daoist monks, Qigong practice, a university lecture, a conversation with an entrepreneur, or a close look at how a local business works.
We begin with the interests of the students and the goals of the faculty leader, then build the program from there.
Since 2009, CLI has led custom programs for schools and organizations across China. More than 500 students in our records joined CLI through one of these faculty-led groups. Drake University’s Kirk Martin has run programs with us for years; his short video explains why.
CLI has been part of Guilin since 2009. Our connection with Guangxi Normal University reaches back to 2001, when one of our co-founders first studied there.
Those relationships show up in students’ daily lives. Homestay families open their homes, GXNU students become pengyou language partners, teachers share lunch with students, and local friends welcome the CLI community into the city.
Over the years, CLI has worked with professors across GXNU, school principals, hotel and factory managers, government officials, restaurant and photography studio owners, and local tourism agencies.
Those relationships also include the Guilin Tourism Bureau, the Guilin Urban Planning Bureau, Guilin’s central television station, local charities and orphanages, outdoor guides, real estate professionals, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, Daoist and Buddhist leaders, yoga instructors, Qigong teachers, and calligraphy experts.
Homestay families, pengyou language partners from GXNU, and the aunties who cook lunch at the Center are all part of the same network. Read our story.
These reviews and reflections come from GoOverseas and Reddit. They were written independently, not for this page.
I have studied many languages in university classes, in group classes outside of university settings, and one-on-one with private tutors, and I have never made so much progress so quickly.
Most places talk about being a community. CLI is a place that is actually one. People enfold you with love and generosity.
I think I met as many second, third, fourth, and nth-time visitors as I did first-timers like myself. I plan to go back at least annually.
Read all 120+ reviews on GoOverseas, or explore more student stories on our site. One reviewer wrote that eight weeks at CLI taught him more than a year of apps and online programs.
In 2019, a complete beginner spent three months at CLI. A few years later, someone on Reddit asked her to explain why she recommended the program. She wrote a long answer and ended with one regret: she wished she had stayed for six months instead of three.
Her description of class will sound familiar to CLI students: three teachers, two two-hour sessions each day, and separate attention to the core course, reading and writing, and speaking and listening. She was surprised by how demanding one-on-one lessons could be. There is nowhere to hide when you do not understand. Once she adjusted, she wrote, all 1:1 lessons accelerate your learning through the roof.
She recommends eating lunch at the Center, joining activities such as calligraphy and weekend trips, and speaking Chinese even when all you can manage is 走吧 (zǒu ba, “let’s go”). She also has direct advice for future students: treat the teachers with the respect they have earned.
Read the full post and the questions that followed on Reddit. The author has no affiliation with CLI other than being an alum.
Every student who comes to Guilin becomes part of CLI’s story. The figures below offer a glimpse of the community we’ve built together, drawing on enrollment data dating back to 2012 and our 2025 Year in Review.
We are especially grateful for the students who make CLI part of their lives, returning for a second, third, or even fifth stay. In 2025, we welcomed one student back for his ninth visit.
CLI works best for students who want intensive one-on-one study and a close community. It may not suit every learner or every trip.
Still unsure? Write to mira@studycli.org with your goals and dates, and we will reply within two weekdays.
Guilin sits along the Li River in Guangxi, surrounded by the limestone peaks that have appeared in Chinese paintings and poetry for centuries.
It is a full-fledged city, but it is compact, relaxed, and easy to get around. There is plenty going on, while quieter neighborhoods and open countryside are never far away.
For Chinese learners, Guilin has another advantage: English is not widely spoken. Mandarin becomes part of ordinary life, whether you are ordering lunch, shopping at a market, or talking with someone in your neighborhood. Everyday costs are also much lower than in Beijing or Shanghai. Explore Guilin.
学如登山
xué rú dēng shān
Studying is like climbing a mountain
Begin your stay any Monday of the year and immerse yourself in Chinese language and culture with CLI as your guide.
