Why CLI?

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.
Why students choose CLI

Personalized immersion. Genuine community.

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
Students and staff laughing together beneath the CLI sign in Guilin 4.96 out of 5 on GoOverseasBased on 110+ public reviews posted since 2013. We invite you to read them all.
Why CLI

Six parts of the CLI experience

These six parts show up in the details of each day, from how your teachers coordinate to the people you meet around Guilin.

  1. 1 Support

    We help with the whole experience

    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.

    Visa guidanceAirport pickupComprehensive OrientationHousing Accommodations24/7 emergency supportFarewell dinner
    A student in the CLI office in front of the teacher photo wall
    A student’s view
    CLI’s professionalism completely removes any travel anxiety.
    Harry · United Kingdom, 4 weeks
  2. 2 The team

    The people who built CLI are still here

    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.

    CLI student and teacher studying Chinese at CLI in a one-on-one environment
    Still here in Guilin
    2009Founded in Guilin
    17Years of shared work
    60+Teachers and team members

    Dayong, our longest-serving teacher, joined in August 2009 and remains an integral part of the team to this day. Meet the team.

  3. 3 The method

    One-on-one study, built around your goals

    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.

    Three teachers per studentTwo 2-hour sessions a dayDaily review and homeworkFormal assessmentsLanguage Pledge wristband
    Anna Liang teaching a one-on-one Chinese at the whiteboard
    Student progress
    In my short 3 weeks here, I made more progress than I had in the past 9 months.
    Eli, 26 · United States
    I went from beginning HSK 1 to starting HSK 5 from August to January.
    Maxim, 25 · Russia, one year
  4. 4 The city

    Guilin was chosen for learning Chinese

    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.

    CLI students overlooking Guilin's karst skyline
    In students’ words
    Guilin forces you to use Chinese. In Guilin, the environment is 100% Chinese.
    Kyle, 31 · United States
    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.
    Jasmine, 22 · United States, 2 weeks
  5. 5 The network

    Connections across China

    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:

    GE ChinaMTV ChinaAmazon ChinaClub Med ChinaSinopecPeking UniversityTsinghua UniversityAn engine factory in southern GuangxiA prominent Hong Kong law firmThe Colombian Embassy in ChinaA plastics recycling centerBuddhist and Daoist monasteriesLeaders of the Ping’an rice terraces regionSmall and midsize companies

    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.

    Two CLI students in a temple courtyard
    Faculty-led programs

    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.

    Faculty-led programs

  6. 6 Local roots

    17 years of local relationships

    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.

    A CLI student shopping at a Guilin market with a teacher
    Local roots
    17+Years as a GXNU affiliate
    3 hrsWeekly with a local pengyou
    2001Founders first in Guilin

    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.

A one-on-one Chinese lesson at CLI
A calligraphy brush workshop at CLI
Students walking through the Longsheng rice terraces
Students on a boat on the Li River
Lunch at the CLI Center
Making zongzi together at CLI
An outdoor volleyball game with CLI students and teachers
Students playing Go outdoors in Guilin
A CLI teacher showing a book to a student
CLI students cycling by the river near Yangshuo
Students and teachers talking in a tea room
A CLI student with a homestay family in Guilin
Students and local friends socializing in the CLI lounge
Guests writing messages on the signature wall at the CLI Center
Tai chi practice on an overlook above Guilin
Students and teachers raising a toast at a farewell dinner
A lesson by the window at the CLI Center
Two CLI students at a sunset overlook above Guilin
Student voices

Hear from people who studied here

These reviews and reflections come from GoOverseas and Reddit. They were written independently, not for this page.

r/ChineseLanguage

Three months at CLI, in her own words

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 arrived with almost no Chinese and left at roughly A2, bordering on B1.

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. 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.

r/ChineseLanguage Posted by u/ii_akinae_ii · October 2022
Reddit

my experience at the chinese language institute (CLI)

Resources

disclaimer: this is not advertising or promotion. i am not affiliated with CLI: i am only a former student. after a comment where i recommended CLI to someone who was asking about immersive experiences, i was asked to share my experience in a separate post, so that's what i'm doing.

my time at the chinese language institute (CLI) in guilin was life-changingly amazing. i was there in 2019 for about three months, and if i could go back and do it over again, the only thing i'd change is that i'd stay for six (or more!) months instead.

CLI has a very innovative formula. you get three teachers assigned to you: one "main" teacher, one reading/writing teacher, and one speaking/listening teacher. you have two classes each day, both of which are 2 hours apiece. you'll have homework every day that you're expected to do, and you'll have the opportunity to sign up for activities.

here's the big key: your "classes" are actually 1:1 tutoring sessions. now that i've done it, i'm convinced this is the most powerful way to learn a language... i'm never going to sit in the back of a classroom again. it's incredibly difficult, because if you don't understand a concept, you have nowhere to hide. it's daunting but once you get over the ego hurdle, it's amazingly effective. i went as an almost total beginner, and i thought it was highly highly valuable to build my language foundation this way. i don't have experience doing something like this as an intermediate, so i can't speak to that but i'm sure there's great advantages to that as well.

i also mentioned activities, but i'd like to dive a little deeper into that. some of the activities are as simple as playing sports or hiking the mountain near CLI, and some of them are more like weekend road trips. activities i participated in included: a calligraphy workshop, making 月饼 for 中秋节, visiting 阳朔 (including boating down the Li River), visiting the LongJi rice terraces, and more. if you go, i strongly recommend participating in activities: they're an excellent way to gain a deeper cultural insight to go along with your language learning.

the teachers are wonderful. you only have three teachers assigned to you, but because of the activities (and lunchtime if you choose to eat at the school: which i highly recommend! the food is amazing there!), you interact with pretty much all the teachers, to varying degrees. they're very kind and intelligent, and they care for the students very much.

there are multiple options for housing. i chose to live in the dorm at CLI itself. i think this is the "safe" option, especially if you're a total beginner with the language. if you want an extra challenge, you could do a homestay, but the program is already quite challenging imo, so it might be best to stay in the dorm. plus, the dorms have western toilets, which you're not always guaranteed to see everywhere. and you're with other students, which is nice and builds community.

my best piece of advice for you, if you decide to go, is to practice the language as much as you can. it's exhausting (literally, your brain will hurt), but it's so important. and if you can't say everything you're trying to say in chinese, even just little things can be very useful, like replacing "let's go" with "走吧" or being sure to use the appropriate greetings with people (e.g. 吃好了吗，去哪儿，etc). the way to begin getting natural with the language is to use it often, even if your usage is limited. don't be afraid to make mistakes. language is a sort of semantic negotiation: you can make mistakes, but if people can still understand your meaning, that's what matters. and you build from there.

one last thing... i'm going to switch my tone to be a little bit harsh, so please forgive me, but it needs to be said. do NOT go there and treat these people like they're servants to you, or like you're better than them. it wasn't common, but i saw one or two students take this incredibly offensive attitude, and it drove me insane. these are wonderful people who have built this beautiful and effective program, and you should be humble and treat them with the respect and gratitude they deserve. culturally, it would not be appropriate for them to stand up for themselves against this attitude, so they don't -- so if you see it among your fellow students, please don't tolerate it.

please feel free to AMA here! 🙂 and if you do decide to go to guilin and study at CLI, i hope you remember me and DM me: i'd love to stay in touch over wechat in case you need any tips while you're there (plus, selfishly, i'd love for you to pass along my well-wishes to my former teachers, haha).

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.
Elizabeth, 34 · Canada, GoOverseas
Most places talk about being a community. CLI is a place that is actually one. People enfold you with love and generosity.
Oluwasayo, 64 · United States, GoOverseas
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.
Nick, 31 · United States, GoOverseas

Read all 110+ 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.

CLI by the numbers

What 17 years in Guilin looks like

Public reviews tell one part of the story. Our enrollment records, which reach back to 2012, add another. The figures below also draw from our 2025 Year in Review.

We are especially grateful for the students who return. Our records include second, third, and fifth visits, and one student came back for his ninth stay in 2025.

4.96/5GoOverseas, 110+ reviews 5,000+Students since 2009 36,000One-on-one class hours in 2025 400+Institutions, 180+ accepting GXNU credit
Before you apply

Is CLI the right fit for you?

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.

CLI is a strong fit if you

  • Want to speak and are ready for four focused hours of one-on-one class each weekday
  • Learn better with a teacher across the table than in a lecture hall
  • Want teachers and team members to know you by name
  • Want a city where you have to use Chinese to order lunch
  • Need flexibility: start any Monday, stay from one week to a year, and adjust your focus as you go
  • Are a complete beginner, an advanced learner, or anywhere in between. A third of our students arrive with zero Chinese

Think twice if you

  • Have your heart set on life in a megacity. Guilin has about a million people, but it is not Beijing or Shanghai, and the CLI Center sits outside the main downtown nightlife area
  • Want to blend into a large, anonymous institution. At CLI your teachers will notice if you skip homework
  • Would rather sit quietly in the back of a classroom. One-on-one study asks you to participate throughout each lesson
  • Are choosing on price alone. A university group class will usually cost less; CLI tuition includes 20 hours of private instruction each week plus housing

Still unsure? Write to mira@studycli.org with your goals and dates, and we will reply within two weekdays.

Guilin's karst peaks along the Li River
桂林Where class lets out
Guilin, China · 中国桂林

Welcome to Guilin

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.

The Li River winding between Guilin’s karst peaks
The Li River
Sunset over Guilin’s karst cityscape
Sunset, Chuanshan Park
Friends sharing street food buns in Guilin
Ordering in Mandarin, eating local

学如登山

xué rú dēng shān

Studying is like climbing a mountain

Come see for yourself

Begin your stay any Monday of the year and immerse yourself in Chinese language and culture with CLI as your guide.

Apply now Try a free online lesson
Keep reading

More about CLI

Our StoryHow CLI grew from a student idea into a community in Guilin.Keep reading What is CLI?Programs, the GXNU affiliation, and CLI at a glance.Keep reading Why CLI?One-on-one teaching, close support, and daily life in Guilin.You are here