RICH Chinese Summer Camp

We sent our 14 year old son on this camp from Australia to China, all on his own (out of his own wish)! We dropped him off to the airport, and hugged him and trusted someone will be there to look after him when he landed! And I can tell you from personal experience that I was definitely very nervous before I booked the camp with RICH, but they answered my every question and concern to keep me reassured every step of the way, and looked after him from the minute he landed right up until he waved good bye at the boarder gates at the Beijing airport! All while still giving him the opportunity to be independent, make friends, learn about Chinese language and culture, and supporting him to grow up a some more to become the young teenager! He loved RICH so much he convinced his 12 year old sister to go with him again next year!

RICH summer camp was one of the best holidays I have had in my life. The people around me, staff and students included were all very nice, and all supported me when I couldn’t understand something. The lessons weren’t nearly as bad as I was imagining, and were often very fun. The staff gave us lots of independence, such as letting us do what we wanted in a shopping mall, or allowing us to play football in our free time. This was an incredible experience that I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn Chinese. 👍🦔

We had a wonderful experience with RICH Chinese Summer Camp. From the very first inquiry to the start of the camp, and all the way through to the end of the program, everything was handled with great care and professionalism.

Summer was truly outstanding throughout the entire process. She was professional, thoughtful, detailed, and incredibly patient. Communication was always smooth and timely, and she made sure every question was answered clearly. We especially appreciated how attentive she was to our feedback and how quickly she responded whenever anything came up.

Our child had a very positive experience during the camp and felt well cared for from beginning to end. The camp took place in a university campus environment, which gave us a strong sense of safety, order, and peace of mind. As parents, we felt very reassured knowing that our child’s daily life and overall well-being were being looked after in such a secure and well-organized setting.

The whole journey, from the initial consultation to the camp experience itself, to the final departure, was seamless and reassuring. It gave us great confidence as parents.

Most importantly, our child came away with a wonderful impression of China and is already saying they would love to return again. We are very grateful to Summer and the entire team for creating such a memorable and meaningful experience.

I got to know RICH Chinese Summer Camp through Jennifer Sachs of Hyde Education, and I can honestly say it was one of the better recommendations we've received as a family. My daughter had been studying Mandarin for a few years — enough to hold a basic conversation, but not enough to feel confident. We were looking for something that would actually move the needle, not just expose her to the language in a superficial way. RICH turned out to be exactly that.

What set it apart from other programmes we considered was the environment. The Beijing camp is based in the Peking University area, and students live and study on or near one of China's most prestigious university campuses. For a 15-year-old, being surrounded by that academic culture — the architecture, the students, the energy of a real university — made an impression that no classroom back home could replicate. She came back talking about PKU as if she'd actually gone there herself, which I suppose in a way she had.

The classes are genuinely tiny. We're talking two to five students per group, placed by language level rather than age. My daughter ended up in a class with two other students whose Chinese was at a similar stage, and that intimacy made all the difference. There was nowhere to hide, which sounds intimidating, but the teachers were skilled at making it feel safe rather than stressful. By the end of the first week she was already texting me sentences I couldn't read.

What I hadn't fully anticipated was the evening one-on-one tutoring. Every student gets a private session each night, tailored to whatever they're working on — HSK prep, tones, characters, conversation. It sounds intense, and it probably is, but my daughter loved it. She said it was the first time she felt like her specific weaknesses were actually being addressed rather than glossed over in a group lesson.

Beyond the language work, the programme is genuinely immersive. The afternoons are filled with cultural activities — calligraphy, hutong visits, cooking classes — and the excursions are real, not tourist-trap versions. The session also included a multi-day trip to another city, which was a highlight she talked about for weeks afterwards. The students travel and experience China together, which builds a kind of camaraderie you don't get from a two-week classroom course.
The international mix of students was something we valued highly. Our daughter met kids from Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas, all there for the same reason. The shared experience of being slightly out of your comfort zone in a foreign country, while working hard at the same language, creates friendships quickly.

On the logistics side — safety, communication, supervision — I never had a moment of worry. Summer and her team were responsive, organised, and clearly experienced. It felt like a small, carefully run operation rather than a conveyor belt of summer programmes, and that personal quality came through in every interaction.

We'll be sending her back. That's probably the most honest review I can write.

When we first started looking for a summer program in China for our 14-year-old daughter, I was honestly a bit overwhelmed. There are so many options out there, and as a parent sending a teenager halfway across the world alone, safety and the actual quality of the program were my top concerns. We didn’t want a glorified tourist trip where the kids just speak English to each other on a bus, nor did we want a rigid, stressful academic boot camp.

We eventually chose the RICH Chinese Summer Camp, mainly because they have been running this since 2007 and seemed to have a very focused, independent approach. Now that my daughter has returned from their Beijing and Shanghai session, I can confidently say it was a fantastic investment.

What really sets this camp apart is the "university-based" residential experience. In Beijing, they stayed at the Global Village (Zhongguanyuan) right in the university district. Instead of staying in generic tourist hotels, the kids got a real taste of college dorm life in a highly secure, academic environment. It gave my daughter a sense of independence and maturity. She loved walking to the dining halls and interacting with the environment just like a local university student.

Academically, the setup was much more practical than what she gets at her weekend Chinese school back home. Before the camp started, they did a one-on-one level assessment. My daughter is a typical heritage speaker—she understands when we speak to her but refuses to talk, and her reading/writing was basically zero. Instead of just grouping kids by age, RICH placed her in one of their 6 specific levels using their own materials. The class sizes were extremely small, which meant she couldn't just hide in the back.

The biggest game-changer, however, was the 1-on-1 evening tutoring. After a long day of classes and cultural excursions in the city, she had a dedicated time to sit down with a teacher and review the exact things she struggled with that day. It made the progress feel very tangible. By the end of the second week, she was confidently ordering food at local restaurants and navigating the subway system in Shanghai without relying on translation apps.

The staff and counselors were professional and genuinely cared about the kids, striking a good balance between keeping them safe and letting them explore. They kept parents updated, but also encouraged the kids to disconnect from their phones and engage with the real world. If you are looking for a program that focuses on real cultural immersion, language application, and personal growth, this is a solid choice.