<p>I think you will be fine going to a small school for Chinese. My D is in AP Chinese at her high school, but I very much doubt she will be ready for more than 3rd year Chinese at college. So if you go to, for example, Macalaster, you can take 3rd and 4th year Chinese (I checked - they offer both), Junior year abroad, and senior year independent study or cross-register at U Minn (that information is linked to the consortium’s web page). You could also do a summer at Middlebury to really boost your language proficiency. </p>
<p>The rural development idea is interesting - hope you don’t mind if I comment about this too although I know you didn’t ask for advice:) If you want to work for an NGO specializing in this field, it is important to have the right substantive background - language is probably not enough and a language or area studies major may not be the best idea (although it is helpful to have language fluency on the side). Middlebury, Macalaster, and I think Hamilton all offer geography majors which is suitable, but this major is rare at LACs. You could also study economics, sociology, anthropology just about anywhere. Another idea would be to go to a bigger university and study agricultural economics or even agriculture.</p>