Hutong School

Thanks to the Hutong School, I had a great time in Beijing! I was very unsure at the beginning, I came to Beijing and asked myself: What can I expect? But from the first minute at the airport, when one of the school members welcomed me, I already felt much better. The school always supported us students, with organization and had an opened ear for any question. Especially the teachers made this time great and brought me China and its culture much closer. Very soon I felt 'at home' in Beijing and actually wanted to stay longer. I found a kind of family there with my room mates and people from the school. Back in Germany, I am meeting a Chinese girl once per week to go one with learning mandarin. Also I am planning to go back to China to write my diploma there. So everybody who still hesitates: Do it! It's a great experience and everything is much easier as you think, before you saw it with your own eyes!

I landed in China at 2 am and didn't know anyone in China and didn't have anyone to call in case things didn't go right, but because of the Hutong School, in 24 hours I was surrounded by about 30 people I could easily call friends and spent the next three months surrounded by a group of awesome people. Because of Hutong school support - cant' under play Xiao Yin's exceptional selfless 'concierge' support - Beijing was love at first sight. Nine months later i am still in Beijing thriving, and I know I can still call on the guys at Hutong to help. The classes were small, fun, and I got dedicated attention from the teachers. I did get into a Grand plan as a far a as moving to China, I had faith that with everything the school offered, all I had to do was show up - they didn't let me down.

For sure I will return to Beijing and Hutong School as soon as possible and can only recommend this program to anyone who is planning to do a Chinese language course in Beijing. Do it, it's a huge load of fun! I was quite curious but also a bit unsure whether everything will work out the way I imagined it at first. But the Hutong School staff took all of my fears away by helping me dealing with every kind of problem that came up during my whole stay and by providing me with an apartment in the heart of old Beijing. Located in this cool courtyard, the Hutong School office was always open for us to discuss eventual problems, get advice for everyday life in China or just to have a relaxed and fun conversation with the nice and warm-hearted staff that even joined us to explore Beijing's tremendous nightlife. Thanks to the variety of nationalities among the students, I made a lot of new friends from all across the world and I definitely want to keep in touch with many of them. After my 2-month-stay was over, I was very sad to leave as I really had a great time that I will keep in my mind and in my heart forever.

I will never forget my time at Hutong School. I enjoyed every day and the people around me. During my time at Hutong School I found lots of new friends and I'm still in touch with many of them.Thanks to Hutong School I decided to stay in China, Beijing.

I decided to quit my job and fly to Beijing and take a 3 months crash course in Chinese at the Hutong School. A decision I didn't regret. I have studied in several countries around the world and the people running Hutong School are honestly always there to support you in daily things and to help you out, even with things that do not directly affect their responsibilities. As I was impressed with the abundant information on their website and the personal touch to it, I decided to quit my job and fly to Beijing and take a 3 months crash course in Chinese at the Hutong School. A decision I haven’t regretted so far. Learning Chinese is a whole different experience, since you have to cross a cultural border; not only to understand the language and it's structure, but also to cope with the Chinese written and edited books. Although a western hand would do them good, it is somewhat compensated by the willingness of the teachers to help and explain. Classes are relaxed (unless you join your group a week late and have to catch up) and the apartments are comfortable.

When I arrived in China, I was welcomed by 2 people from the HS staff and quickly found out that the whole Hutong School team is young, dynamic, flexible, opened to any suggestion and ready to help anytime if you ask for assistance. The Chinese teachers are great, and will make it really easy for you to learn Mandarin Chinese. You won't believe it! 'When I first thought about going to China, and especially Beijing, I was not sure what I wanted, what was awaiting me. How to find an internship, a nice apartment, central in Beijing with nice roommates, good Chinese teachers? Also will I survive without speaking a word of Chinese? All these questions found a surprising answer on the Internet 2 months before I planned to leave France. Within one week they offered me a package including a really interesting internship, a great apartment in one of the most convenient places of the city, and outstanding teachers. My stay in Beijing will remain an unforgettable experience for me. For all these reasons, and also because of the other students I met here, with whom I had a huge amount of fun and crazy experiences. Coming to Beijing and staying there with Hutong School made it possible for me to combine the advantages of working in China and thus discover the fastest growing economy in the world, and make this funnier, easier and more interesting than what I had ever imagined. No doubt, I will come back soon.'

I strongly recommend the Hutong School, I have been having a lot of fun and so will you! I came to China for two reasons - studying Chinese and the very interesting internship the Hutong School managed to find for me. I was supposed to stay 6 months but I liked it so much in Beijing that ten moths later I am still here. China is a fascinating country and its capital is a fascinating city. On the one hand, it stands for tradition, history and culture - even after 10 months, there is always something new to see and something new to discover. On the other, it is full of impressive modern buildings, restaurants and clubs. It is a city that never sleeps. Chinese classes at the Hutong School are taught by very professional teachers. Groups hardly ever consist of more than 5 people which is a great advantage, especially when studying Mandarin. It is not an easy language but teachers do their best to adjust classes to students' learning capabilities and do not get angry if you ask the same question three times in the row :) Hutong School also organizes many activities, excursions and trips around the country for half the cost and double the fun. Everything, from the train tickets, to hotels and food, is taken care of so you basically have nothing to worry about, maybe only if the battery of your camera can handle the one thousand photos you will surely make (and then put them on Facebook - that's a no-brainer ;) Besides, such activities are a great opportunity to make friends with young people from literally all around the world. What I find particularly important is that the School is always ready to assist you with whatever problems you might have. In my case it was a hospital, visa issue, problems with the residence, changing apartments, a key that was not working... Each time I received help within one day and it just feels good to know that there is somebody out there who will not leave you on your own.

From the first correspondence they gave me the feeling to be very professional and really friendly and helpful. I am very happy that I made the decision to come to the Hutong-School in Beijing! I am studying Business management-Marketing in Belgium. For my graduation I had to do an internship during the second semester. I chose to do my internship in China because of several reasons. I always wanted to do my internship abroad to improve my English. Since I visited China 4 years ago, and I really liked it, my decision was already made. Another reason to come to China was to discover the emerging economy. From the first correspondence they gave me the feeling to be very professional and really friendly and helpful. The Hutong-School is not very big and at this moment there are between 60-70 international students. Every day I have 2 hours of Chinese course with 4 other students in a class. The teachers are very nice and they know that learning Chinese for foreigners is not that easy. The school also organizes a lot of trips and activities. From cooking classes to weekend trips, discovering local restaurants and specific Chinese food … you will always find something new and interesting! The apartments are relatively new and located in very good areas. There is also a cleaner who comes weekly of even twice a week. You can always call on somebody at the Hutong-School to help you if there are any problems.

I learned to love China and do highly recommend the Hutong School. I had the greatest time of my life in Beijing. It was a 1000%-f. To shorten my hymn on the Hutong School: Everything worked super. The Hutong School cared for me from my arrival in Beijing on until my departure back to Germany. Shall I tell you, how? Okay, here we go: I was fetched at the airport, brought to my nice apartment and the police station for registration, was shown around the area of my apartment (e.g. the supermarkets), was brought to the office of my internship-firm on the first day, had really high-class Chinese language courses with Jiao Yu, took part on great parties and excursions organized by the Hutong School, did a high-class internship and so on and so on... what was also a great help for me was the fact, that there is also German speaking staff. It was kind of comforting for me to discuss some important things in German (e.g. registration process), so I could be sure, that I understood everything correctly. As you see, the Hutong School was really perfect for me. I learned to love China and do highly recommend the Hutong School. I had the greatest 4 months of my life in Beijing. By the way: I am now working for an Euro-Asian Consulting firm and am traveling between Germany and Shanghai. The Hutong School did not only heavily influence my personality, but also my professional future.

I have studied with the Hutong school on two occasions. The first time was in 2008 for a couple months when I studied Chinese with a group of three other students (classes are always quite small, although that one was especially small because it was the top level). The classes were very good quality, the teacher was qualified, funny, and efficient. The second time I took classes at Hutong school was in the beginning of last year. I took one-on-one classes everyday, after working as an intern in an NGO during the day. The classes were very beneficial to me, because my level had slumped after a prolonged period away from China. The general atmosphere is really nice, with people from all over the world, and the hutong school organizes a lot of events in Beijing or around Beijing. The location is also really great, in the center of Beijing, very close to the most authentic spots of the city, and the school itself is in a siheyuan (traditional Beijing courtyard). I know they opened a new office in one of the business districts where classes are also given, but I haven't seen it so I can't comment on that.