INTELLIGENCE IN CHINA Th;gps%b
RICHARD LYNN &b@!DAwAJ
University of Ulster, Northern Ireland 9p\wTzA
Studies of the intelligence of' Oriental peoples in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore hA1gkEM2o
and the United States have typically reported slightly higher mean IQs than those of #SihedWi
British and American Caucasoids. Recently results have become available for a :af;
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standardization of Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices in the People's Republic of ^~r&}l4c,
China. The results show that Chinese 6-15 year-olds obtain a mean IQ of 102.1 in relation Puth8$
to an American Caucasoid standard of I00. s?G'l=CcKu
A number of studies have shown that the Oriental or Mongoloid peoples $kD`$L@U
have higher mean IQs than whites or Caucasoids of European origin in the .iP G /e
United States and Britain. Much of the literature on this question is reviewed v1X&p\[d
in Lynn (1987). The IQ advantage of Mongoloid populations has generally F3Ak'h{Ay
been found to lie between 2 to 8 IQ points. A number of studies of d0}%
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intelligence in Japan indicate that the mean IQ is approximately 105. Studies 8NAWA3^B
of the intelligence of children in Taiwan and Singapore have obtained mean 5Du>-.r
IQs of approximately 103. A recent study of children in Hong Kong obtained Nvx)H(8F
a mean IQ of 110 (Lynn, Pagliari & Chan, 1988). The extensive literature T?]kF-
on the intelligence of ethnic Orientals in the United States was reviewed by ;*g*DIR
Vernon (1982) who concluded that the mean non-verbal IQ was about 110 ]dGr1ncu
and the verbal IQ about 97, which can be averaged to give a figure of 103.5. !.2CAL
Although data are now available on the intelligence levels of Mongoloids rMXOwkE
in a variety of locations, the jewel in the crown is missing. This is the Ky'3z"
intelligence of the population in the People's Republic of China. The interest l`M5'r]l
in obtaining data on intelligence in China is twofold. Firstly, this is the 9?l?G GmQ
homeland of by far the greatest number of Mongoloids. Secondly, the high eA*Jfb
intelligence levels of Mongoloids in several locations could have been #EQx
determined by selective emigration from China. This is suggested by Flynn gM;)
(1989) for the Chinese in the United States, and the same argument could be sQ>B_Y!
applied to the Chinese populations of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. z7t'6Fy9'
Data on the intelligence level of the population of mainland China are crucial Lr24bv\
for the resolution of this problem. The required data have recently become 5fj
available and are the subject of this report. 5;K-,"UQ
METHOD LE0J ;|1
A Chinese standardization of the Progressive Matrices was carried out by ZXsY-5$#d-
Hou Can Zhang of Beijing Normal University in the mid-nineteen eighties. B~_,>WG
The standardization sample consisted of 5,108 individuals drawn as a A}#]
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stratified sample from the 6 principal administrative areas of China and from yjOu]K:X
small, medium sized and large towns within these areas. The results are given mS)|6=Y
in the form of norm tables in Raven and Court (1989). These norm tables SP
D
207
consist of raw scores for a number of age groups and the percentile uku}Mr"p
equivalents of raw scores, set out in the same format as those given for the _8NEwwhc
United States in Raven (1986) and for Britain in Raven (1981). Ah" 'hFY
RESULTS
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The American norm tables give the most precise percentile equivalents for ]4 K1%ZV
raw scores and for this reason are the most satisfactory standard with which 7i+!^Qj?y
to compare results from China and elsewhere. For the Chinese data it is "3Xv%U9@
possible to derive American percentile equivalents for 20 age groups over the _,Rsl$Tk'
age range 6-15 years. These have been collapsed into 5 age groups, the 0x>/ 6 <<
percentiles transformed into IQs and the Chinese results given in relation to 7$1fy0f[l
American IQ means of 100 and SDs of 15 in Table 1. Mean IQs of British S`W'G&bCj
children are also given in the Table, making the same calculations from the a$xeiy9
British standardisation sample. /mMAwx
TABLE 1: MEAN SCORES AND IQs OF AMERICAN, BRITISH veX"CY`hn
AND CHINESE CHILDREN ON RAVEN'S STANDARD ~3'OiIw1@
PROGRESSIVE MATRICES. tkdBlG]!
It will be seen that the Chinese children obtain consistently higher means * Y%<b86U
than the American and a marginally higher overall mean than the British. bQ^DX `o6P
The mean IQ of American children is depressed by the presence of %eutfM-?6
substantial numbers of blacks in the population. The mean IQ of white zU4V^N'
Americans is 102.2 (Jensen and Reynolds, 1982). Hence in relation to an f- k|w%R@
American Caucasoid mean IQ of 100, British children obtain a mean of 101.2 ax72e hL}
and Chinese children of 102.1. The statistical significance of the higher mean 'Ffy8z{&3
obtained by the Chinese children in relation to the American can be tested by Mf;|z0UX
calculating the standard errors. The difference between the means is greater ySixYt
than twice the standard errors and can therefore be considered statistically j5,^9'
significant. The Chinese-British difference is not statistically significant. #4P3xa
DISCUSSION D 8@nkSP
The results show that the intelligence level of children and adolescents in KTLbqSS\
mainland China is slightly higher than that of Caucasoids in the United States {XDY:`vZ}
and in Britain, although the Chinese-British difference is not statistically ?2?S[\@`0U
significant. In evaluating the result, account needs to be taken of the very low ~<2 IIR$H
living standards in China. &sZ9$s:(^
Few dispute that intelligence is to some degree determined by envi- ==h|+NFa
ronmental conditions and standards of living. Thus children adopted by OD?y
middle-class families enjoying good living conditions obtain higher IQs than /slm
]'
their siblings reared in working-class families (Dumaret, 1985; Capron & eC+"mhB
Duyme, 1989). Furthermore, the increase in living standards in the O:5Rp_?^
economically developed western nations over the course of the last half EI=Naq
century has been accompanied by a rise in intelligence of approximately 15 *%OYAsc
IQ points (Flynn, 1987; Lynn & Hampson, 1986). A major factor in this ^6)GS%R
rise has probably been that the increase in living standards has been d4y9AE@k
accompanied by better nutrition and this, in turn, has led to improvements in 't0+:o">:
the neurological development of the brain (Lynn, 1990). DD/>{kff
In the mid-nineteen eighties the per capita income in China was 227 US qLQ <1>u
dollars as compared with 16,636 US dollars in the United States and 8,064 kvW|=
US dollars in Britain (United Nations, 1987). To equate the United States and c%AFo]H
Britain with China for the standard of living it would be necessary to go back sFQ4O- SM
at least to the beginning of the century when British and American mean IQs q
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were substantially lower than they are today. Hence, if and when living S1 EEASr!}
standards in China improve, the intelligence of the population can be MG7 ?N #
expected to increase further. nOAJ9