an amazing language and culture experience!

I just got back 2 months ago from studying advanced Chinese abroad here for four months. KCE is an immersion school offering one-to-one classes from beginner to advanced as well as cultural study and HSK prep. It is a small school with more students in summer but fewer in spring/fall. If you want to make friends and do lots of cultural activities, go in summer. If you want to focus on studying go in fall/spring.
Classes are one-to-one so the teacher's attention is focused on you and personally tailored to your needs. You can study at whatever level, at any pace and on any topic you like from grammar and speaking, to poems or reading the newspaper. The teachers will speak mostly Chinese, but if you are a beginner, they can speak good English too. I used the school's intermediate to advanced textbooks and they were great, if a bit outdated, with many interesting topics. I added hundreds of useful words to my vocabulary, improved my speaking and listening from HSK 2 to HSK 4/5 and improved my reading and writing from HSK 3/4 to HSK 5. I'd rate classes a 10/10.
I lived with a host family a twenty-minute bike ride from the school. When living with a host family you will eat many different amazing Chinese foods, be immersed in the Chinese culture and practice Chinese outside class, while teaching the host family son/daughter some English in exchange. I loved teaching my host family's daughter many basic words and seeing her English improve. My host family was really nice always helping me out and keeping me well fed. They even took me traveling during National Holiday Week to the host mother's hometown deep in the beautiful Chinese countryside. I had an amazing experience and would rate living with a host family a 10/10.
There are also dorms which I stayed in during my first week. They are decent but spartan. You will have 2 beds, 1-2 desks, and 1-2 closets and in summer you may have a roommate. There is also a bathroom with a shower and western toilet, a washing machine and a small kitchen. If you are only staying for a month the dorms are okay, but otherwise I would go with a host family. I'd rate dorms a 7.5/10.
Now Shijiazhuang is real China, meaning there are few English speakers, less western stores, and almost no foreigners. You will be completely immersed in Chinese culture rather than western influenced China like Shanghai. This means plenty of chances to use your Chinese outside of class and learn about real Chinese lives. It will be slightly less crowded as the city has several million people not 23 million and everything (save western stuff) will be really cheap. There are also still plenty of modern accommodations (buses, subway lines, shopping malls, parks, etc.) The weather is also pretty decent, not too hot in summer with only some rain and cold in the fall. As for pollution while summer, fall and spring are usually pretty good, between mid November and March the pollution is much higher but gradually this is getting better. For the time I was there (August-early December) I'd rate Shijiazhaung an 8.5/10
To sum up this is an amazing school, that provides you with a great immersive Chinese language experience. If you are prepared to live in real China and embrace Chinese culture while greatly improving your language skills then this is the place for you.