This article deals with the peculiarities of the teacher’s interaction with the Russian and Chinese student audiences in the process of teaching in the higher education system of the Russian Federation. Russian and Chinese students’ audience features were analyzed in terms of using these features in the professional activity of a teacher teaching Russian and Chinese students both individually and as part of mixed groups. The author highlights the following as the main features of Chinese students: collectivism, respect for elders, fear of “losing one’s face”, good memory, tendency to memorize the material, orientation to the fact that the teacher is always right, compliance with the principles of subordination, diff erent from Russian practice, ambiguous attitude to non-traditional forms of classroom instruction, positive attitude to the use of electronic learning tools. Russian and Chinese students are also given a comparative description from the point of view of the peculiarities of the mentality of the representatives of Chinese and Russian linguoculture. It is concluded that a university teacher who takes into account the peculiarities of the Chinese audience will be able to structure the educational process in such a way that all the peculiarities of the mentality of Chinese students will be taken into account. The author also concludes that the due regard of the Russian and Chinese students’ national characteristics will make it possible to teach eff ectively in mixed student groups. The fi nal paragraphs present possible prospects for further research into the peculiarities of teacher interaction with Russian and Chinese student audiences at the current stage of the development of the higher education system of the Russian Federation.