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Abstract: Based on character sketches published in Russian and Chinese mass media, the article analyzes text structures (the analysis of sketches in Russian media is carried out by E. A. Nakhimova, the study of sketches in Chinese media is undertaken by N. B. Ruzhentseva). The authors believe that foreigners who know Russian well add elements of their native culture and principles of text production into communicative space of Russian speakers and, thus, make the text easy to comprehend for non-native speakers. These elements taken together represent ethnic identity, i. e. correlation between a person and a certain ethnic group. Ethnic identity is studied in this article on grammatical and axiological levels of text structure. The grammatical representation of the subject makes it possible to argue that in Chinese media published in the Russian language “free will” of a person reveals itself on grammatical level much stronger than “free will” of a person in Russian media. The subject in sketches written by Chinese authors is clear, explicit and acts as a doer of the action. However, “free will” of a person is limited by axiological factor – national system of collective values typical of China and serving as Chinese axiological standard. The axiological dominant in Chinese character sketches written in the Russian language is a unity of different variants of ideological coloring which correlate with pragmatic, volitional and interpersonal spheres, as well as with creativity, responsibility, patriotism and gratitude to some people and the society. At the same time grammatical structure of a text shows that “free will” of a person in Russian character sketches is limited by the other people, circumstances, and the fate, while the system of national values has far less influence on it than in Chinese linguoculture and is often represented in contrast to antivalues. In Russian media stories about a person do not represent a set axiological standard, but rather the author’s view on one of the aspects of this standard. As a result, the regulative function of a text in Chinese media is collective, while in Russian media it is individual and author-dependent. In general subject text structure in Russian and Chinese linguocultures shows the specificity of ethnic identity of native speakers. The results of this research may be useful in the sphere of methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language.