Hmm, difficult to explain, mostly the attitudes of the people. For instance, if you were to lock up a bunch of people of different nationalities in the same room (assuming everyone could communicate) the Russian and the American would probably hit it off.
Both Russians and Americas were somewhat nationlistic, both had pride for their countries, but both could easily list countless faults. Both generally distrust political leaders. Both into sports such as football and basketball, both into drinking and having fun. Both Russian and American traditional culture (such as movies, music, etc.. ) are pretty similiar. Both consider their country to be a world leader and although Russia has slipped a bit, both realize the importance their countries have played in a global sense.
In China, Chinese people are .. pretty much all brainwashed. They refuse to admit that China has even a single fault. They refer to the Tianamen Massacre as a 'sweeping victory against the counter revolutionaries' they want to anhialate Taiwan, they think everyone is plotting against China. Chinese people are very racist- they are completely open about it. They talk about how they hate Japan, and how they hate Taiwan, and how they cant possibly understand why Tibetans ressent them, seeing as thier lives are so much better now that China conquered them. They are into ping pong and badmitton, they mostly dont drink, they are completely obssesive about 'losing face' (looking bad). They are relativley shy and dont open up too much.
Ive travelled to and spent a decent amount of time in dozens of countries and I honestly feel that Americans and Russians are very very similair.
Does this help at all? By the way, I actually liked China a lot and made many good friends there, dont want to appear that I was going off on them. But what I said is true. The sad thing is that it is almost universal for people who actually live in China and have not had a chance to make it out.