Maybe in your case you had the fortune to run into a good partnership that Qidong Middle School had with whatever Western Educational entity they were working with. These partnerships can be short, inconsistent, and volatile to say the least. I have a friend who used to work in Haimen Middle School in the city of Haimen (neighboring Qidong to the west) and that school had went through some problems with its exchange program with the American company that was in charge of helping students get into an American university. The last I heard they switched last summer to a British outfit. Sometimes it's the luck of the draw.