Chinese International School, founded in 1983 was the first school in Hong Kong to teach an international curriculum in English and Putonghua. With 1,500 students in total, the primary school adopts a dual language approach and its own curriculum. The secondary school follows the IBMYP and IBDP where Putonghua is mainly taught as one among the subject areas, while also being foregrounded through the dual-language History programme (Years 7-9), the two-week China Experience Programme (Years 7-9) and the year-long Hangzhou CIS programme (Year 10). Beginners level Putonghua is also available in Year 7.