Applying to universities in China

[ai_ya]

I am aplpying to sichuan university, and I am ready to send off my forms.

I am wondering approximately how long it will take to receive the acceptance letter and visa forms from the school after I send my application.

Also does anybody have any experience with sichuan uni? i.e How is the teaching, are the students mostly western or korean, etc?

Thanks a lot.

[sei_shoganon]

On a related note, what do the SU people mean by "Undergraduates must have a recommendation letter from their sponsoring organization or people."? ( http://www.scu.org.cn/iohomepage/students/aap.htm )

Is this something they actually enforce, and if so, what are they referring to?

Also, here's a question that applies to most Chinese universities I have looked at: Who can and can't I use as a guarantor (if indeed it matters)?

Thanks ahead of time for any help. I'm pretty lost as to these two concepts, as American universities stipulate nothing of the sort.