Harbin – the tenth largest city in China - has a long tradition of contacts with Poland. Many of the engineers and workers building the Eastern China Railway at the end of the 19th century were Poles. At the beginning of the 20th century two Polish parishes, several schools as well as organizations were established in Harbin. Many tombstones with Polish names can be found till this day at the local cemetery.

Polish language has only so far been on linguistic syllabi at Beijing University of Foreign Languages, which recruited freshmen only every four years. But due to the growing numbers of candidates willing to study Polish, the university in the Chinese capital has launched more frequent recruitment, now running every two years.