Last summer, Guo Chao, a 25-year-old material science and engineering doctoral candidate at Tsinghua University, traveled abroad for the first time thanks to the "Rainbow Bridge" Chinese-American Students Cultural Exchange Program.

"My greatest 'take' from the trip was gaining a global perspective. I realized the importance of academic exchanges with the outside world and, as such, this past year I submitted two papers to international conventions in the United States," Guo said.

This kind of eye-opening educational experience is exactly what the organizers of "Rainbow Bridge" want.