Socio-cultural, economic and political transformations have altered both the Chinese and Eastern European societies over the last few decades, creating a new context in which both these regions continue to undergo important changes and meet future challenges, such as economic reforms, social inequality, aging population, sustainable development, environmental problems, legal issues, educational challenges, and others. In the fields of economics, culture and education, many possibilities to meet partners from geographically distant areas have recently appeared. These encounters between different cultures entail various challenges. What are the effects of contacts between representatives of different countries of Eastern and Central Europe and China? A comprehensive analysis of these spheres could offer great opportunities for interdisciplinary comparative research. This text explores the dynamics of dialogue between China and CEE in a number of areas.

The study of the Chinese presence in Central and Eastern Europe and the relations between these two regions was initiated as a result of intensifying exchange between academics both from China and many countries of the region. The second stage was the intellectually stimulating Conference on China-Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Cross-Cultural Dialogue, Education and Business organized by the Confucius Institute in Krakow and the Institute of Middle and Far Eastern Studies at the Jagiellonian University on September 22–24, 2015. The conference was supported by the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Confucius Institutes in Budapest, Bucharest, Lancaster, Ljubljana, Olomouc, Skopje, and Sofia, the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Shanghai University of International Business & Economics, and the Alliance of Chinese and European Business Schools.

This book, as well as the conference, aimed to promote cross-disciplinary, academic, educational and professional dialogue concerning all kinds of China-CEE subject areas. The main idea was to use a comparative approach and combine diverse experiences and different research approaches and perspectives across various disciplines in order to analyze similarities between the two regions, as well as to address future challenges related to socio-economic and institutional transformations. Despite the great distance that separates them, as well as obvious cultural differences, these two regions also have important common traits and can learn from each other.