A conservative-leaning education watchdog is raising alarms about a Chinese government–sponsored study-abroad program that has sent hundreds of American students and teachers to China on all-expenses-paid trips, arguing the initiative is a form of political influence dressed up as cultural exchange.
The new report from Defending Education examines the Young Envoys Scholarship (YES) program, which Chinese President Xi Jinping launched in 2024 with the stated goal of promoting “mutual understanding between young generations of China and the U.S.” But the report argues the program’s real purpose is to cultivate sympathy for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) among American youth — and that the effort may already be paying off.
What the Report Says
According to the report, at least 83 American universities and 26 K-12 schools across 30 states have participated in the YES program since its inception. The program covers travel, accommodations, and cultural activities for students, who often visit notable Chinese landmarks, learn calligraphy, take Tai Chi classes, and meet with Chinese officials.
The report highlights that the organization overseeing YES — the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE) — openly states on its Chinese-language website that it is guided by “Marxism-Leninism” and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism. The same site declares that the association will “always adhere to the leadership of the [Communist] Party and integrate the Party’s work into the entire process of the association’s operation and development.”
Defending Education’s report argues that this ideological underpinning, combined with the curated nature of the trips, suggests the program is less about genuine cultural exchange and more about presenting a sanitized view of China to young Americans.
Trips to Xinjiang and Personal Messages to Xi
The report points to specific trips as evidence of a coordinated soft-power strategy. In 2025, for example, a group of 27 students and teachers from Chicago visited the Xinjiang region — a territory that the U.S. government has formally designated as the site of a genocide against Uyghur Muslims, citing mass internment camps, forced labor, and forced sterilization. The students’ itinerary included calligraphy, Tai Chi, and dance classes, but none of the region’s human rights controversy.
Another notable case occurred in January 2024, when the Muscatine Community School District in Iowa announced that 24 students and four educators would travel to China as guests of China’s education minister. The Chinese government funded the entire trip. Coverage from the Chinese Embassy detailed how the students presented gifts to President Xi, including a school flag with the characters “Grandpa Xi, Here We Are.” The embassy also reported that the students later wrote to Xi, “sharing their joy and happiness during the visit and thanking him for inviting them to China.”
Similarly, in March 2024, 10 students from Tacoma Public Schools in Washington state made a YES-sponsored trip, and Chinese media quoted students saying they wanted to thank Xi “for planting the seed of relationship between Tacoma and China.” In another instance, YES program materials included Lincoln High School students praising Xi’s message as “very heartwarming” and one student declaring, “I am a China fan.”
Defending Education argues that such testimonials are precisely the point: American students return with a positive, emotional attachment to Xi and China, without exposure to the country’s repression of Uyghurs, the imprisonment of dissidents, or the case of Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy activist who died in a Chinese prison.
Broader Effects on Youth Opinion
The report connects the YES program to a broader trend of increasing sympathy for socialist and communist ideas among younger American voters. It notes that recent elections have seen openly socialist and communist candidates win in major cities, driven in part by Gen Z support. The report’s author, Paul Runko, a digital communications specialist for Parents Defending Education, argues that a generation raised to see Xi as “heartwarming” is “primed to embrace the same ideologies at home.”
“There’s nothing wrong with appreciating the good parts of Chinese culture,” Runko writes. “But Americans should be incredibly wary of the impetus behind these ‘free’ trips. They should recognize that YES is using American children as propaganda tools for a communist regime that seeks to destabilize the U.S. with its atheistic, genocidal, and totalitarian ideology.”
Critics and Supporters Weigh In
The report is likely to face pushback from those who view the YES program as a benign exercise in public diplomacy. Past participants and their families have described the trips as transformative educational experiences that broaden horizons and foster international friendships. The Chinese government has repeatedly rejected allegations of genocide in Xinjiang and says its policies there target terrorism and extremism.
Still, the report’s authors urge educators and parents to treat the YES program with caution, particularly if the trips are not paired with lessons in democratic values and U.S. history. “If these trips are not followed up with pro-democracy, pro-capitalism, and pro-Western values lessons, then America will continue reaping the consequences,” Runko wrote.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-ccp-study-abroad-trips-are-influencing-american-youth