There are analyzed the Russian proverbs that display the behavioural model of a guest in a house - positively and negatively assessed - in comparison with Chinese sayings that show both similarities and differences in accepting a guest as the “right” one.

There is described the course and the results of the survey carried out among Russian native speakers with the aim to reveal the components of the concept “good breeding” and further selection for the analysis of proverbs and the appropriate semantics.