Introduction

If one were to name two countries of the world that differ in their fundamental aspects, Poland and China would be very fit for this purpose. From a geographic, economical, cultural and political point of view, they are very distant countries indeed. Warsaw and Beijing are 7,400 kilometers apart, and Poland is 30 times smaller than China in terms of both area and population. By bold calculations, China's gross domestic product (GDP) amounts to 13% of the world's total (International Monetary Fund, 2011). The Polish GDP is less than 1% on a global scale. Poland and China are hardly equal trade partners. In 2011, trade with China amounted to less than 1% of Polish exports (21st position) but to as much as 9% of total imports (3rd position) (Ministry of Economy of Poland, 2012). On the other hand, the GDP per capita in Poland is two and a half times higher than in China. Poland belongs to the countries with the highest human development indicators, while China (Hong Kong excluded) is in the medium human development group (Klugman, 2011).

Poland is a relatively monocultural society where Christians (mainly Catholics) account for the vast majority. In China, which is officially an atheist state, the number of Christians is estimated at 3-7% (The Economist, February 11-17, 2012). The differences are all the more salient when the two countries are compared in terms of culture.