Hello teacher5,
sorry for all the silly comments here. I think there are some good options here in Chengdu, depending on what you can afford. Basically I think your kids situation also has to do a lot with how teachers/the school deals with these situations: 4-year olds bullying like that is quite exceptional and should be immediately taken seriously by the staff. It is very important to check with a new school how the school deals with this kind of thing, because it really all depends on the staff.
* international schools: EtonHouse international school, has two campuses open now. One in TimesResidence area has an international and chinese division combined in one building and they share many activities, the chinese division is cheaper than international (about 35-40.000 per year). The other campuses is chinese division only. They teach IB PYP program. At Times Residence there are many mixed and foreign kids in chinese division, and I’ve never heard about bullying like you are describing (our kids are going there). EH takes kids from 18 months until 8 years (6 for chinese). Other international schools take kids from ca. 3 years until high school and include: QSI, Leman, CDIS. These are ‘foreign passport only’ schools. Then there is Meishi international, I think they take kids from 4 or 5 years, and I guess there are some foreign kids there. CDES, in the west of town, also has some foreign kids enrolled I think.
* as for kindergartens, some of the Golden Apple kindergartens accept foreigners but not all of them. Try the one opposite the Master building in Tongzilin, I know that foreign or mixed kids go there. There is also a Soong Ching Ling kindergarten in the south of the city, and a new American one, but I don’t know much about them.
* many foreigners are living in Tongzilin, Tianfu new city, Wuhou, or the center of the town, less are living in the suburbs north, west or east. there must many foreigners and mixed families who send their children to the local kindergarten in their area.
Good luck with your decision!