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Abstract: Terms denoting kinship represent one of the oldest lexical groups and from the point of view of complexity of origin take a special position in the vocabulary of a language. The given paper deals with the study of Russian terms of kinship in comparison with the Chinese one. The fact that the system of kinship terminology is not only linguistic phenomenon but a social one, and that the terms of kinship are interconnected with the social, historical and ethnographical background is beyond doubt. The article describes the specificity of the structure and functioning of the words denoting kinship in Russian and Chinese in their comparison, and reveals the differences between Russian and Chinese terms of kinship both from the point of view of their number and their structure and functioning. Linguo-culturological analysis of the lexemes included in the thematic groups and united by the integrating seme “kinship” allowed the author to single out the differentiating semes “gender”, “kind of kinship”, “line of kinship”, “degree of kinship”, “kinship coordination”, “age in relation to the speaker”. The author comes to the conclusion that a number of these semes are not engaged in Modern Russian but are rather relevant for Modern Chinese reflecting the specificity of the corresponding sections of the national concepto-spheres as linguo-cultural phenomena; for example, the Russian system of terms of kinship clearly displays androcentrism without opposing kindred to affinity. The aspect of age is important for the Chinese system of terms of kinship, whereas it is not relevant for the Russian language.