The article presents the results of a research program aimed at analyzing culturally bound motifs embedded in Chinese and English idioms, as well as in caricatures, which transmit the cultural continuity of the 21st century giants - the PRC and the USA. The analysis leads to the prognostic purpose. The authors conclude that the study of cultural continuity makes it possible to discover the mechanisms of survival strategies presented in the framework of Chinese and North American cultures. The basic methods of research are descriptions with the elements of art history and literary analysis. The study outlines the prospects for a comparative description of the analyzed cultures