Summer High School Programs in China with Rustic Pathways

Name: Summer High School Programs in China with Rustic Pathways
Brand: Rustic Pathways
SKU: 31334
Rating: 8.8 (5 reviews)

Request Info

Video and Photos

View All Photos

About

Rustic’s programs in China expose students to the wonders of this fascinating country. We’ve built partnerships with schools, non-governmental organizations, and conservation groups since opening China operations in 2007. Students venture from the big cities to explore, learn, and conduct service. They interact with members of our partner communities and leave with a better understanding of and appreciation for China and its culture.

From giant pandas to giant cities, everything about China is grand. You’ll be surrounded by the lights and energy of Shanghai and Beijing one day and enveloped in the serene beauty of the rural countryside the next. Visits to iconic attractions and exploration of China’s historic culture will not disappoint.

Popular Programs

Panda Conservation and Wild China

Work at a renowned panda conservation center based in Chengdu and work alongside researchers to help care for the pandas. Your days will be filled with monitoring their behavior, preparing food, feeding the pandas, and cleaning their living spaces. When not working with the pandas, you’ll trek across the Four Girls Mountain, explore Chengdu, and spend a day hiking on the Great Wall of China.

Related Programs

Questions & Answers

Reviews

8.8 Rating

based on 5 reviews

Leave a Review

Volunteer

Impact 8.2
Support 7.8
Fun 7.2
Value 8
Safety 8.4

Showing 1 - 5 of 5

I have recently returned home from spending a month in China (I did two Rustic programs back-to-back), and I can safely say that it was the best experience of my life! For the first two weeks, I was on the Silk Road Service program, and I cannot recommend it enough, especially for those who love adventure, or want to get out of their comfort zones! We spent those two weeks traveling around the Yunnan province, learning about China's diverse cultures, and getting to experience a lot of them! From hiking up to Mapingguan (a very remote city) with my group to all of us hanging out on rooftops wherever the trip took us for that night, I will never forget the memories I made on this trip or the people on it! People I met at the airport only two weeks before soon became family, and I now have an incredible amount of love for Yunnan, and all of the people who got to see it with me! After a tear-filled goodbye at the airport, I knew that I had one day of rest, and after that was a completely new adventure. This second adventure was the Panda Conservation and Wild China trip, a completely different look at the country that I had now begun to call home. The panda trip is another that I can't recommend enough, although for other reasons. While there is still some adventure, this trip is a lot more laid back than the Silk Road one. We usually stayed in one place for a while and were not on the move as much as we were on the first trip. This was nice in some aspects, but we got to see a lot less of the Sichuan province than I had hoped. With that being said, the highlight of that trip was obviously the pandas, but also we took a bus ride to stay in a Tibetan Sichuanese village. The immersion of Tibetan culture for those few days made the bus ride 100% worth it! Since I have prior knowledge of the Chinese language, I found myself communicating with the locals, and understanding more about their culture. All in all, I can say without a single doubt, that both of these trips are incredible, and provided me with the best month of my life!

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?

Come into this trip with no expectations of what it is going to be like, or of what you are going to do each day. This trip is a lot more fun if you don't look at the itinerary each night before you go to bed, and instead go day-by-day and live in the moments you have in China!

this is a photo of one of my first views in kunming

this is our group (silk road) after spending the day with migrant workers' children

Hello. I'm only reviewing Rustic Pathway's High School Language-Learning program in China because this is the only trip I have been on but I would assume that other programs have similar qualities. I want to start off by saying that this program was so amazing, I didn't have high expectations going into this trip and so the trip was so much more than anything I could have expected. This program is great for first-time travelers, it is very structured and the guides make sure that you have everything that you need. That said, you do need to know how to be flexible and independent.
Usually, each day went like this:
8:30-11:30: Chinese Class
11:30 - 12:15: Free Time
12:15 - 9:00: Scheduled and Guide-Lead Activity (including lunch & dinner)

And after the first couple of days, you need to be able to get yourself to and from the classes and and be able to handle yourselves in the morning and past 9:00pm.

Now for the actual review of the program.
There are three things I loved about this program:
- improving my Chinese
- supportive guides
- making friends
There is honestly very little that I would want to change about this particular program. The Chinese classes in the morning were very small, effective and fast-paced. People don't use Chinese outside of class as much as I would have liked, but you still need to talk to waiters, hotel staff, cashier ect in Chinese. Throughout this trip I got significantly better in actually speaking Chinese and communicating as opposed to just translating sentences on a piece of paper.

The guides were also amazing on my program, they truly seemed as if they cared about the kids on the program and really worked hard so that we could have a fun time. Also, since it is a rather small group there is a lot of individualized attention (kinda). For example, I got bitten by a bug that caused my feet to start blistering (I was the only one who this happened to, no need to worry about it) and they immediately helped me; allowing me to sit out of certain activities, giving us more free-time and they took me to the doctors while the other kids were in Chinese class. This type of support definitely made the trip more enjoyable and made me more relaxed because I felt that I was safe.

Now, I know that people won't believe me when I say this (I never believed other people when they do) but you really do make good friends on this trip. I am usually the loner in a group of people and that's what I expected when I went on this trip. But I ended up making two very close friends who I got along great with. A majority of the people on this trip were open-minded and friendly and wanted to make new friends as well. You get really close with the others on the trip and is a great way to make friends from all over the USA. Don't worry about if you aren't going with a friend, most people aren't either, as long as you are nice and willing to make friends, you are sure to find friends on this trip.

What would you improve about this program?

Provide more information about the daily schedule of activities to the kids.

I went on the panda conservation trip and then the marvels of china trip. If you are thinking about doing either of these trips I would highly suggest not doing just one. For the panda trip, the focus is the conservation project and they will put you to work. You are allowed to take photos but keep in mind you are supposed to be there to help. One of the things about this trip that made it fun was that while at the panda center we worked but it wasn't hard labor and just being with your friends made the work fly by. You also don't spend the whole two weeks working which is nice. After spending 4 days at the panda center we travelled around chengdu. We saw a glacier, a tea garden, and more! The marvels trip is a little more demanding in the sense that we travelled almost everyday except when we stayed in Beijing. This trip is a little more touristy and you don't get to see much of the real country side of china. I chose this one because we got to see some of the most iconic places in the country. (For example the Great Wall and the forbidden city.) I decided to do both of these trips because the panda trip allowed me to get service hours and explore China's beautiful wilderness while the marvels trip was more about seeing China's biggest cities. I would suggest to do two trips (not nesseccarily both in china) because two weeks in a country really isn't enough time to fully appreciate all that it has to offer. Even in a country as big as china, I didn't get to see everything that I wanted to and hopefully I can go back. So while you are out exploring a little peice of the world, why not see as much of it as you can?

I went on the Giant Panda Conservation Project and absolutely loved it! I worked up close to pandas, feeding them and cleaning their cages, and also prepared the food. On the first day, we toured the conservation, and the following 4 days we woke up early to get to work! (We were given many breaks though). When we weren't at the center, we explored the city areas and shopped around, or hiked in the mountains. The food is great as well, and the people there were very nice to us.

What would you improve about this program?

The only issue was the living conditions. The toilets didn't flush completely, and the tap water isn't drinkable. Considering the trip is only a week long, it isn't a challenge to get through these conditions at all.

Read my full story

The Chinese Language program is not worth the money. In the two weeks I spent there, I think we did three activities. We spent most of the time watching American movies in English or relaxing in our rooms. Some of the teachers are inexperienced college students

Alumni Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with verified alumni.

What inspired you to volunteer with Rustic Pathways in China?

Chrissy: When a Rustic Pathways representative came to my school and handed out a trip booklet to me, I immediately began marking the pages of the trips that I thought would be a dream come true to go on. Tons of trips caught my eye, but the Giant Panda Conservation Project leaped off the page for me!

I absolutely love animals, and I've always wanted to travel to the country of my ethnic origins. My grandma also had always encouraged me to visit China sometime, so I knew this would be an exquisite chance.

The opportunities offered in this trip seemed unbelievably fun. It listed activities such as volunteering at the Panda Conservation Center, exploring in the local cities, and dining on traditional Chinese dishes.

I was most excited about the opportunity to get my picture taken sitting beside a giant panda! I knew this trip would be extremely special. Plus, the price was not as high as another program’s price that I have traveled with in the past. Overall, the Rustic Pathways panda trip was definitely a winner.

What made this volunteer abroad experience unique and special?

Chrissy: This trip was extremely unique because I experienced the work of a panda keeper. I received more interaction with the pandas than I had expected; I got to hand feed the adorable pandas and prepared their bamboo.

The job did require cleaning, but we were given free time to watch the pandas play as well. Working alongside the other panda keepers was truly unique as well.

We got to see how training the pandas to do certain tricks could help the panda keepers check their health. For example, the pandas, when given the command, could stick their front leg out of the barred fence! This exercise was useful for when the workers need to give the pandas a shot for medical reasons.

Another point I want to make on how this trip was special is that it was not a luxurious trip, but a trip that lets you immerse yourself into the life of the locals there. Not living in a 5-star hotel was actually an experience that was truly special to me because it challenged me to live more simply.

Water was a valuable resource there, so we had to make sure we used as little as possible. The toilets did not function as well as ours do here, and the shower was literally a shower head up on the wall and a drain on the floor next to the toilet. We also had no air conditioning, but the weather luckily was not too hot. It was a completely new experience that I will never forget!

If you could go back and do something differently, what would it be?

"It wasn’t hard falling in love with these adorable animals."

Chrissy: If I could go back and do something differently, I wish I could have asked the locals more questions. By that I mean that I could have learned so much more about how people there compare with people here by asking little pointless things.

Simple questions about their school life and opinions on popular movies would have meant so much to me. I had the chance to spark up conversations with the workers during our breaks, but oftentimes we talked little about each other and more about the Chinese language and facts about pandas.

I know this wish seems silly, but these types of things can't be Googled! My advice to future travelers is to unleash all your curiosities- you won't regret it.

Tell me about one person you met.

Chrissy: I met a really cool panda keeper at the conservation center whom I couldn't wait to see every day. Although Chen Rai couldn't speak English fluently, he made friends with us all. He walked us through our tasks for the day and sat with us during our breaks. We even played brain teaser games together! The language barrier even made it fun and did not discourage us from talking.

After all, he taught us some Chinese phrases! We didn't pronounce them well, but there was so much fun in learning them! Chen Rai lived in the same place we were staying at, so sometimes he walked us back up the mountain. He really proved to me that people can still laugh together and build relationships, even when we don’t speak the same language.

Ten years from now, what one thing will you remember most from the trip?

Each of us were given official uniforms and worker id’s, just like the real pand

Chrissy: I think years from now, I will mostly remember how up close I got to these pandas, and the fun of taking care of them. It's a once in a lifetime experience to be able to go behind scenes and follow the schedule that the panda keepers go through each day.

The beauty of the pandas themselves is something else I won't forget; these endangered animals are the silliest and most care-free animals I have ever seen. They lay on their backs to eat bamboo and climb all the way to the top of a tree just to rub their butts against the branches!

I could tell that the panda keepers there truly loved their jobs, and that really hit home for me. They watch the pandas play as if the pandas were their own children. Just after the first day of work at the conservation, I too fell in love with the work I had done and the pandas I had cared for.

Staff Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with program leaders.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

I think one of the largest benefits of travel is simply just seeing and learning about cultures and backgrounds different from the one that you grew up with at home. It has allowed me to consider different points of view, put myself in other people's shoes, and overall has made me a more compassionate person.

It's really exciting to be a part of that opportunity for growth with other students because having knowledge and empathy for people in different communities other than your own ultimately leads to a stronger global community where we all want the best for one another.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

There was a girl who traveled with us in India and then later went on to win a design contest for Tom's shoes where students could create and submit an idea for the company.

Her inspiration came from the time that she spent on a Rustic Pathways program in Northern India and the colors and patterns she saw in the country. I love this story because there are some really easy ways to see how travel can shape students and expand their world-view, but it reminds me that travel opportunities can inspire and ignite our students in smaller, more subtle ways as well.

View Entire Interview

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

I have a personal affinity for our Panda Conservation project in China because I've spent so much time developing educational content for the program.

Students are just able to learn how researchers manage captive species as well as how much work goes into the field of conservation, and we work at a center that has 20% of all pandas in captivity in the world. It's just a very unique opportunity to work on a project that you wouldn't be able to do on your own in personal travels later in life.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

I think the thing that makes Rustic Pathways stand out is our long-term commitment to sustainable growth in the countries and communities that we work in.

We have full-time staff year-round in the countries where we operate that allow us to more easily control our safety policies as an organization, but also be a part of year-long planning with the communities where we work setting up volunteer projects and continuing to make sure that former projects keep their momentum after our students leave their program.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

I think one of the biggest factors to being in a successful organization is being able to adapt and make changes when necessary.

Being flexible also allows us to work with a wide variety of students from a wide variety of backgrounds so that our trips on the ground fulfill the goals of individuals that may have different passions. Adaptability also allows us to innovate and create new programs that fulfill program wishes for our future students with new and exciting content!

The world of international development is always changing and it allows us to be able to work with communities in an ever-changing environment of what is most beneficial to those communities.

About Rustic Pathways

Travel and volunteer abroad with Rustic Pathways.

Choose from culturally-immersive adventure and volunteer programs in 17 countries. Make lifelong friends from around the world, work on sustainable community service projects, and discover new passions during a Rustic Pathways program.

Whether you're looking for summer volunteer programs or

Summer High School Programs in China with Rustic Pathways

Video and Photos

About