"We're very excited to be working with AmCham China to extend our platform to the business community as well as our presence in Beijing," said Carola McGiffert, president of the 100,000 Strong Foundation.

She said the foundation looks forward to "expanding the 100K Strong footprint in China and helping create shared value for its members" in collaboration with the business organization.

"By more closely associating with AmCham China, we hope to promote to its members the foundation's strategic and economic importance with respect to US-China relations both in the present and future," McGiffert said.

China is now the fifth destination for Americans studying abroad, after Britain, Italy, Spain and France, according to the 2014 Open Doors report by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

In the 2012-13 academic year, more than 14,000 US students studied in China, making up 5 percent of all US students studying overseas, not counting an estimated 10,000US students studying in China for non-credit and short-term language and volunteer programs each year.

The number is still too small and showed an "uneven flow" between China-US educational exchanges, said David Lampton, professor and director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies on Feb 19.

After one semester in China, Liles said he wants to do China-related work after graduation and would probably "settle down in China after making enough money".

Chris Cordner also chose to further his study in China after his exchange program atthe Beijing University of Technologyfrom 2011 to 2012.

After graduation from the University of Maine at Farmington, Cordner was enrolled by the international relations program at Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2013, fully sponsored by a Chinese government scholarship.

He said education in China is differentfrom the US because it's less critical thinking-geared, but he is a fan of Asian culture and would "most likely work in China"to "explore it more".

"I love Asian culture,not to mention its rich history and traditions," Cordner said.

"The future of the US-China relationship lies with our young people and how they will manage the most pressing strategic and economic challenges of their time," Baucus said.

"Aligning US business interests with deepening people-to-people ties is a smart investment for the US economy and job growth," he said.

Sheng Yang in Washington contributed to this story.