My wife and I participated in this program in Sept 2012. It was our 40th Road Scholar program. Most were active adventures (hiking or biking) and many were international. This is my first program review. Road Scholar offers a number of China programs. This one is a good choice for those interested in seeing contrasts between life in big cities and in small villages. The program is particularly well designed to show these differences. The program provider, the Chinese American Educational Exchange (CAEE), has offices in NY and China. The program is well described on the RS web site, so I won’t repeat what is there. It is a small group program, which in our case meant 8 participants. The pre-program packet was very helpful, including answers to frequently asked questions, a reading list and much more. We were encouraged to contact CAEE directly with any questions. As part of our preparation, we read books on the reading list. Our guide met us at the airport and was with us throughout the program. An English major at university, she hoped to become a high school English teacher. As luck would have it, she found this job, permitting her to use her teaching skills while exploring her own country. When not guiding she works on program improvement and development. She speaks English very well and taught us some Chinese. We spent 21 days with this young woman and it was very evident that she loves her job. This program is described as “moderately challenging.” From our perspective, it is not very physically active but it does involve a lot of travel. But extensive traveling “comes with the territory” for most international programs. (There are the international flights as well as, four within China plus hours of travel in a van.) China is slightly larger than the USA and if you want to see it, travel is a part of it. We learned so much about China in preparing for and taking this program. We loved it and can’t stop telling our friends about it.

This was a great trip. Visited important sites in the cities, stayed overnight in a Chinese apartment, met lots of students, and visited ethnic villages in the country. Being able to walk long distances is important. All the sites in the cities covered large areas. The bumpy rides in the country were just that but tolerable and well worth the experience. The highlights were being able to walk around the small villages on your own and poke into unknown corners and to wander around the cities in the evenings. We felt perfectly safe at all times and the local people, both in the country and in the cities, were very friendly and helpful. We arrived a day early and took a 3 hour bicycle tour around Beijing and wandered on our own for the rest of the day. I highly recommend it. Have given a talk recently on Chinese gardens from places we visited on the trip. A wonderfully diverse experience with great guides.

This was an outstanding program. Some of the roads were a bit bumpy due to construction traffic, but in future, super highways will be available. China is in the midst of a huge construction program of roads, bridges, apartments etc, which will likely damage the way of life of these minority peoples as tourism increases. I only wish that we could have seen more of the minority villages, before they are changed forever. It is not as strenuous as I thought, and the educational part of the program is incredibly informative. The home stay with a professor's family was also enlightening. Don't miss this trip.