I know these people fairly well including some of their senior managers, though I haven't had the cash and time factors coincide to be able to use them directly. Wild China was started by and still managed by foreign and Chinese (educated abroad and used to western expectations). It is a completely different animal than the China Focus, Ritz, Spree etc. so don't lump in same category. It is independent of the CITS-originated and CITS-related web of retail and wholesale shysters. WC makes its own on-the ground arrangements and has its own people and local associates actually providing the services.

Wild China is more of a specialty operation that doesn't do mass-market tours. I wouldn't even put them in the same niche as an Abercrombie & Kent. Though they do have some standardized offerings set up, that's not their real love nor bread and butter. It should be considered an expensive, high-end provider that deals primarily with customized individual and small group arrangements, and also a lot of custom corporate/organizational travel. For reasons of high cost (rather than quality), WC might not be the most logical choice for a standard on-the-beaten-path city tour that you can do on your own, but if I was looking for something exotic that required some logistical or guiding support--like trekking the Altai in Xinjiang, or white water rafting in Yunnan, or in-depth professional exploration of the minority peoples of Guizhou--I'd definitely be considering WC.