On August 13th, the grassroots organization Defending Education released a series of follow-up reports on “The Little Red Classroom,” revealing that after the “Confucius Institutes,” the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been promoting its ideology in the United States through the “Young Envoys Scholarship” (YES) program to influence young Americans’ perception of China.
Defending Education published a new investigative report on August 13th titled “Little Red Classrooms: Young Envoys Scholarship Program.” The report highlighted how over the past decade, the CCP and its affiliated agencies have been promoting the “Belt and Road Initiative” globally to advance its political and cultural agenda, including specific programs targeting American students from kindergarten to high school (K-12) and extending to the university level to shape how young Americans view China.
The report listed over 83 universities and 26 K-12 schools participating in the YES program, spread across 30 states in the U.S. It also provided links to relevant publications praising the CCP government’s full financial support of the YES program.
In 2024, the CCP officially launched the YES program to fulfill Xi Jinping’s 2023 proposal of hosting “50,000 American youth in China over five years.” The program includes short-term university exchanges, school-to-school exchanges, short-term visits, teacher exchanges, summer and winter camps, as well as short and long-term learning programs.
Some programs are fully funded by the CCP, covering international airfare, accommodation, tuition, and more under full scholarships. Other programs require participants to cover only international travel, with expenses such as study, visits, accommodations, meals, transport in China borne by the Chinese side. The CCP’s embassy in the U.S. also waived visa application fees for YES program participants.
The YES program is executed by the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), which describes its goal on its English website as promoting understanding and friendship among people worldwide. However, the Chinese website acknowledges its commitment to integrate CCP’s leadership into the whole process of operation and development.
In 2025, Republican Michigan State Representative John Moolenaar warned local school leaders, stating that trips funded by CCP-affiliated organizations are meant for propaganda and influence rather than genuine cultural exchange. He specifically highlighted organizations like CEAIE being openly recognized by U.S. intelligence as peripheral organizations of the CCP aimed at advancing Beijing’s united front work to attract local leaders and weaken opposition to CCP policies.
The new report indicated that this wave of actions has had a certain impact on the U.S. education system. The report cited multiple examples to illustrate how the CCP has influenced American students’ perceptions through the YES program.
At the end of 2023, with the decline of CCP’s Confucius Institutes in the U.S., top CCP leaders themselves personally invited American youth for free trips to China under the guise of cultural exchange to continue influencing American students’ views of communist countries and penetrate CCP ideology.
In January 2024, the Muscatine Community School District in Iowa announced that 24 students and 4 educators, sponsored fully by the CCP government, would travel to China as guests of the Chinese Ministry of Education. It was believed that CCP leader Xi Jinping personally invited the school’s students for exchange activities in China.
CCP official media subsequently heavily publicized this invitation.
After the exchange, an Iowa State legislator requested the cancellation of any future China exchange trips and stated, “The CCP is not a friend… The CCP has its own agenda and is extending its influence worldwide.”
Iowa Republican State Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks referred to this trip in a press release as a “national security issue and a reminder of the extensive influence of the CCP in the U.S.,” warning that “school systems may not understand the CCP’s strategies and the threats they pose to students and U.S. national security.”
However, according to a press release from YES, in March 2026, Muscatine High School had a delegation of 100 students and staff travel to China for free.
Defending Education is a nationwide grassroots organization that fights against indoctrination in classrooms and campuses by building networks, conducting investigative reports, initiating lawsuits, and actively engaging to promote high-quality, non-political education for all students. The new report released by Defending Education reveals one aspect of the multifaceted infiltration of American ideology by the CCP.
The report is a follow-up to the 2023 report titled “Little Red Classrooms: China’s Infiltration of American K-12 Schools,” which mainly exposed how the CCP’s Ministry of Education and its proxies leveraged Confucius Institutes to establish relationships with American K-12 schools and districts to influence Americans’ views of communism and China.