The authors attempt to make a research on the perception of China and the Chinese by the Russians, living in the Baikal area. The article is aimed at the analysis of reception of images of China by the population of the Russian-Chinese border land. Authors proved that reception of images of China in that territory was mostly influenced by natural circumstances and practical requirements, however the political tendencies from the Russian center were predominating in some periods. The originality of the article is determined by the authors' conception of that mass consciousness is induced by extrajections and reproduces significant number of images of China. This dialogue usually forms more complex contsructs, rather than leads to a simplified dichotomy «a friend ora foe». The authors establish that images of China in consciousness of the Baikal area population were introduced by the Russians, who visited China by the Chinese, who adopted their culture within Russian territory was formed by the political tendencies from the Russian center, and by the Chinese authorities, whose efforts were aimed at distribution of images of China and the Chinese within the neighboring regions. The latter became notable in the Russian territory since 1990s. As the result of the research, the following stages in the evolution of perception of the images of China were eliminated: period before Russian colonization, colonization period, period after defining the Russian-Chinese boundary, period of the second half of the XIXth century up to the Russian revolution, Soviet and Post-Soviet periods. Practical importance of the article is represented by the provement that implementation of the strategy of projections of images of China requieres to be considered natural and practical interests of the population of the Russian-Chinese border land.