I would be interested in hearing from any of you American men who's wife successfully obtained a tourist visa to travel to Europe with you. Meaning no disrespect but I'm not interested in second or third hand accounts. I see enough of those posted on the web. I really need to hear from some one who has actually succeeded at this. Thanks for your input in advance.
Redmoon

Have you tried posting on hongkong.asiaxpat.com/ The home page is HK but there are tabs for other cities. It will allow you to cast a wider net.

I took my wife to Europe a few years ago. We applied through Italy, which is considered one of the easier Schengen countries (France is apparently quite welcoming as well).

It's not very difficult. The only thing is that you have to provide a bit more documentation of her financial situation (ie letter of employer) than you would if she were applying as part of a tourist group.

We were also told to buy X amount of Euros of travellers checks for each day we would be there. I'm not sure if they still require that.

I also provided letters and documents to show that we were married and she would be travelling with me.

The people at the visa desk were not the friendliest, but they were quite helpful. They saw a few problems with our documents and sent us back to fix it before accepting the application. I was later told that if they accept the application documents at the window, you're almost certain to be approved for a visa.

In general, it's a lot easier than the US visa. And if you can get accepted by one of the Schengen countries, you can travel through that whole region, which covers more than twenty countries.

First Europe isn't going to care that you're an American. You could be a Pakistani, a Fijian or an Alien, you wont be mentioned on the visa forms so unless you have an EU passport things wont be any easier or more difficult with you being an American.
The easiest way to do this is to apply through the Spanish embassy. Unfortunately this means you'll have to visit Spain and enter Europe through Spain to activate the visa. After this you can go to Italy, Sweden wherever, just not Britain, Ireland, Switzerland or Croatia.

Spain will knock your wife's visa out in 7 - 10 days if its not peak time. You'll have to show hotel bookings and flight information to show that you will enter Europe through Spain, you will have to provide a letter from her employer to show she has annual leave and is intending to return to work after the holiday, and you'll have to supply financial information. If you are applying through Italy bare in mind that they suggest 30-40 days to process the visa, France 14 days. Spain is a lot more welcoming to Chinese and rejects a lot less applications. Italy, Greece, Portugal and Bulgaria take a long time and make the most rejections.
Remember: The embassy that you apply to must be the first place that you enter in Europe. They ideally want you to show that you'll stay in that country longer than any other country that you plan to visit, but in reality so long as you dress your application to look like that then once you have the visa there's nothing to stop you touching down, getting a visa stamp and then going somewhere else.
Also most embassies will issue your visa for the exact stay of your trip. Netherlands and France are a bit more liberal and issue 28 day visas. If your Chinese wife is planning to apply for a visa showing that she'll stay longer than 28 days then forget it, you've got about a 1% chance of getting accepted if you aren't an EU citizen. Also bare in mind that they want you to apply with plenty of time in hand, if you're applying to go almost as soon as the visa is issued then again your chances of getting accepted are lower.
Source: I've travelled in Europe with my Chinese wife on 5 occasions.

Thanks xiefei for your very pertinent
information.
Redmoon

is that like, thanks xiefei, the other 2 can bog off?

Yes. It was noted. Perhaps next time We'll all let you wonder instead of giving you the information you request.

Enjoy your holiday, and remember: In Europe its considered rude to be an American.

The OP did state he specifically wanted a first hand account regarding a Chinese wife + travel to Europe. As far as I can tell, only Xiefei's reply was that specific.

typical reply from you . if your gonna be a pedantic, have you even read all of napoleons reply? first hand acount and very specific with some vital information not in the other posts. or did you just scan the first para like the op musta done

tigertiger;
Thanks for the link. I've checked it out but didn't find anything specific yet. I'll keep trying though. Thanks again for the tip.