We support initiatives that promote awareness and understanding of issues relating to a nation with one-fifth of the world’s population.  We hope these initiatives will connect students to China’s varied population in new and creative ways, leading to friendships and tangible cross-cultural understanding, and will encourage students to develop and implement meaningful ideas during their pre-college careers.

To help foster cross-cultural connections, we aim to introduce Chinese teenagers in major cities as well as remote, rural towns to their Western counterparts through penpal.  The exchanges can be done in both Mandarin and English and will open the eyes and minds of participants to people and ideas in very different parts of the world.

We support student ideas and initiatives that will increase community awareness about issues affecting underprivileged populations in China as well as projects that will positively impact those that live within these communities.

Projects can take many forms.  They might range from small-class projects to school-wide campaigns: e.g. fundraising for rural schools, organizing eyeglasses drives for orphanages, or hosting photo exhibitions to showcase trips to China.

If you are interested in having a penpal in China or a meaningful China-related project that needs support, please e-mail us at info@chinaprograms.org.