I noticed under Skritter's Resources pages for Beijing that http://www.chinahomestay.org/ is among the list. From the website it seems like an attractive way to immerse oneself in Beijing for several months to a year, although there are some detractors on chinese-forums which make it sound far less than perfect. Any experiences here? Or, more generally with home stays (and recommendations)?

At the airport in Beijing I talked to a 17 year old Finnish Exchange student who was forced to do the homestay thing due to being under age. He said it was less than ideal and would much prefer to rent an apartment instead. He also said that while he spent 8 hours a day learning Chinese in a classroom setting, he felt he learned a lot more after hours, talking to his many Chinese friends. He had 81 people in his QQ, of which a dozen or so were Chinese friends in Beijing. He gave me his e-mail address, so I sent him a link to Skritter and Pleco Chinese.

My girlfriend told me that renting an apartment in Beijing only costs 3000 to 4000 RMB a month. With prices like that, I do not see much value in a homestay. I would just save up 7500 euro/$10000 to be able to survive there for a whole year without having to work.

Thanks for the impressions from your friend. That is indeed one point I would worry about; that while good in theory too much relies on the 'luck' of getting a perfectly compatible family that really helps bolster your Chinese.

Also, regarding rents in Beijing, 3-4000 a month is between standard and low for a studio, but renting one bedroom in a three bedroom apartment for around 2000RMB a month is pretty easy to find. The problem is that usually these rental arrangements are easiest found in apartments with other foreigners (who are more transient), not a good Chinese environment.

Your point on the value of the home stay is well taken, although I'd just comment that 7500 EUR isn't a trivial sum for most people. While I can afford to live on my own in Beijing when I head there to study, the less I spend per month the more months I can study intensively, as well as the more "cushion" I'll have near the end while look for a job.

I did a homestay in Xi'an back at the beginning of 2009 for a semester. A friend found the family for me since the University I was going to did not organize homestays. I was a little nervous when I arrived and the first morning the grandmother said to me was that they had originally said that they would host me, then wanted to pull out... but that was mainly because they were afraid that they couldn't communicate with me. It was a great experience and helpful for both language development and cultural understanding.
Things that were very helpful in enjoying the experience were that I had my own bedroom and bathroom (the family had a big apartment) so I could disconnect from the family if I needed to; I had internet in my room; I already had communication level Chinese, so basic day to day communication was not a problem; grandma talked a lot and I got on well with the family.
Things that were a struggle at times included being treated like a child (I was 29) in ways - not being allowed to help out in the kitchen, do my own washing, because my job was to study; being expected to eat at home for most meals. I found culturally appropriate ways to get around some of these things, but they still wore me down at times.
One thing that I did do right from the beginning was make it clear that I was not going to teach English to anyone during my time in their homestay. Although at first they tried me out with a couple of requests, I stood firm and they very quickly got the message that I meant what I said.
As you have already mentioned the success of the homestay is heavily dependent on the family you end up staying with. However, I think even a difficult family can bring great benefit to your cultural understanding and helping you to deal with things in a culturally appropriate way. I would recommend trying homestay if you already have a communicative grasp of Chinese, but maybe for a maximum of six months to begin with. If you are a very independent person, be prepared to lose much of your freedom.

Hey guys,
I am glad you opened this discussion as I am planning to do homestay for 2-3 months this summer in Shanghai through company called HHS Aupair.
They offer pretty good conditions(free accommodation with the familly, no fees, free meals, pocket money, trips etc.)
All I need to pay for is flights and extra money I want to spend on other activities.

In return I should teach their kids/familly english for ~20 hours a week.

As I spent a summer in Beijing last year (renting a flat) my Chinese is at a communication level already and I would really love to bring it to near fluency this summer and I feel immersing will be a lot more effective then renting.

This seems to me like a great opportunity for greatly improving ones spoken Chinese and get a really deep insight into Chinese culture.

Although I am expecting to make some sacrifices of my freedom because I like to be very independent, but I think (as it for quite a short term) it will be very beneficial in long term.

Any more thoughts/experiences on this ?
Please share ;)