When we tried to shop in a supermarket shortly after arriving in the Czech Republic, we hit the first obstacle: our limited knowledge of the language and our complete inexperience with living abroad meant that we could only helplessly consult which sausage would be the best. At that moment, an elderly Czech gentleman noticed our confusion, approached us on his own and advised us what to choose. No distance, no distrust - just simple human friendliness.

Such moments convinced me that Czechs are friendly to foreigners - sincerely and without exaggeration. At Palacký University I met friends I knew from the Summer Chinese Language School in Beijing. I went to their family reunions, visited their hometowns. And yet - the closer I got, the more I felt something that friendship obscures but does not erase: deep cultural differences and different political perceptions of the world. The friendship was real. But beneath its surface, there were two different stories about what was normal, right, or even true.

This contradiction led me to the question: how do Czechs - and Europeans in general - actually perceive China? And where does this perception come from?

I looked for the answer in my research paper, which tracked how the Czech Press Agency (CTA) reported on Chinese electric cars between 2020 and 2025. The results were telling. At the beginning of the decade, the Chinese electric car was almost invisible to the Czech media - an exotic curiosity from a distant land. Then came BYD, then came NIO, then came Chinese prices and Chinese technology. And the tone of the news began to change: first caution, then concern, and finally - almost grudgingly - recognition. Today, Chinese EVs exist on the Czech market and their share is growing. The media cannot ignore this.

This shift is not just economic. It mirrors a deeper transformation: China is ceasing to be a distant abstraction and becoming a concrete presence - in showrooms, on the roads, in everyday life.

In the age of globalisation, when the internet is so advanced and information is spreading at an unprecedented speed - just as it does GNEWS.cz - I see an opportunity here. An opportunity for the Czechs to overcome fear, prejudice and get to know China. To start with one small message, to shed our preconceived notions and seek more direct and genuine contact - instead of being constrained by misleading political narratives.

Czechs and Chinese have more in common than it seems. Both nations know the feeling of being overlooked by the great history. The Czech Republic went through centuries under Habsburg rule, while China bears the memory of the „century of humiliation“. Out of this shared feeling can grow an understanding, not naive but real.

The old man in the supermarket didn't tell me anything about politics that day. He told me which sausage was the best. And that was a good start.

NNela.Ni