Introduction. The central place in the image of a country is occupied by an associative image, which includes reactions arising from a stimulus – the name of the country and the name of its resident (or stimuli that cause associations ‒ the name of the country and the name of its resident). These associations allow us to reveal the ideas about a foreign country hidden in the consciousness of native speakers. The purpose of the article is to determine and describe the structure of the image of China in the Russian linguistic consciousness and to trace the dynamics of changes in ideas about China and the Chinese in different periods based on the data of the “Russian Regional Associative Dictionary”, which includes the results of two stages of the experiment – 2015 and 2022. Materials and methods. Cognitive, quantitative and comparative analysis of stimuli that caused associations China, Chinese, Chinese in recipients at the first and second stages of the experiment allowed us to identify the structure of the image of China and describe the main changes that occurred in the perception of the friendly country and its residents by Russians. Results, discussion. Seven basic conceptual lines can be distinguished in the image of China, reflecting knowledge about geographical features, economic development, technological achievements, specifics of historical development, traditions, education, art and characteristics of its inhabitants. The increase and specification of associations for each of these lines indicates the directions of development of interest of Russians to different spheres of life of the eastern neighbor. Conclusion. The study showed that over the eight years that passed between the two stages of the experiment, the attitude of Russians to China changed: from perceiving it as a country famous for its cuisine and known for such a historical site as the Great Wall of China, to the idea of this country as an economically developed state, with its own historical and geographical specifics.