The Chinese Government's Friendship Award is the People's Republic of China's highest award for "foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress". The award was first established in 1950s, when it was awarded to experts from the former Soviet Union and East European countries by the then premier Zhou Enlai and the foreign minister Chen Yi. On September 15, 1955, the Chinese government decreed that each departing Soviet expert be issued a medal. This medal featured the flags of China and the Soviet Union along with the inscription "Long live the Sino-Soviet Friendship". The friendship award was abolished with the Sino-Soviet split in the early 1960s. During the period that followed, in particular the Cultural Revolution, foreigners in China were often regarded as "spies" and very few remained in the country.

The State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs is an external name used by China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. SAFEA was previously its own agency of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) that operated under the State Council and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It was responsible for recruiting foreign experts outside of mainland China - including Taiwan and the special administrative regions - for work in the PRC, and managing the training of Chinese nationals outside of the PRC. It was headquartered in Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing.