A Billion Views: Michelle Obama’s China Visit

Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha and Malia recently made a weeklong trip to China, spending time in Beijing, Xi'an, and Chengdu. According to the US Embassy in Beijing, online stories and photos related to the visit have been viewed over a billion times.

As the Washington Post clarifies: “Yes, that's billion with a B.”

The high profile trip underscores China’s growing importance in the world and the need for the US to boost its understanding of and positive relations with the country.

In an interview with CNN, The First Lady highlighted the “almost endless” benefits of studying abroad: “First of all, it is going to make you more marketable in the United States. More and more companies are realizing that they need people with experience around the world."

Michelle Obama did not make it to beautiful Guilin, so we were unable to give her a private tour of CLI. But since her trip to China focused on education and strengthening cultural ties, we’re confident she would have been very happy taking a CLI Chinese immersion class.

Part of CLI’s core mission is building bridges between China and the rest of the world, and we’re happy the White House is not just publicly recognizing how important this mission is, they’re also doing something to actively and positively move the effort forward.