Russian Chinese Cultural Ties: Challenges and Ways to Overcome Them

Since 2014, due to the sharp deterioration of Russia's relations with Western countries, Russia has begun to pay more attention to its policy in the Asian region and to relations with China. Now, China and Russia have not only close political and economic ties, but also cultural and educational ties. China and Russia, despite the difference in culture and mentality, they have a high political will for deep cooperation in various spheres, including cultural and humanitarian. However, it would be wrong to say that Sino-Russian cultural ties are perfect and do not require any refinement and correction of mistakes. The article will consider the problems and challenges that currently exist in the field of cultural interaction between the two countries. The main problem for all areas of humanitarian cooperation is that ties between China and Russia still prevail from above, i.e., at the initiative of governments or directly from the leaders themselves. All this leads to a low level of understanding between the Chinese and the Russians. States now need to focus their efforts on supporting human-to-human relations, since it is the interaction at the citizen level that must become favorable and strong the basis for long-term friendship and cooperation between the countries. Although there are still many shortcomings and difficulties in the field of humanitarian and cultural cooperation between Russia and China, the high mutual political will for cooperation and considerable benefits from it, as well as the efforts of the governments and societies of both countries will lead to the resolution of issues related to humanitarian exchanges, and Russia and China will actively use the resources of the platform and the opportunities for further cooperation provided to it. The current significant changes in international relations offer great opportunities for countries to jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind, in line with Xi Jinping's vision put forward in October 2012, which requires the promotion of cultural exchanges to eradicate bias, stereotypes and misunderstandings among peoples.