INTELLIGENCE IN CHINA _ooHB>sH
RICHARD LYNN Ja3#W
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University of Ulster, Northern Ireland .$-;`&0cZ
Studies of the intelligence of' Oriental peoples in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore Zl3l=x h
and the United States have typically reported slightly higher mean IQs than those of zRjbEL
British and American Caucasoids. Recently results have become available for a YeOn
standardization of Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices in the People's Republic of = cxO@Fu
China. The results show that Chinese 6-15 year-olds obtain a mean IQ of 102.1 in relation !6|_`l>G,
to an American Caucasoid standard of I00. hD5@PeLh
A number of studies have shown that the Oriental or Mongoloid peoples 2*D2jw
have higher mean IQs than whites or Caucasoids of European origin in the OG<*&V
United States and Britain. Much of the literature on this question is reviewed {O _X/y~
in Lynn (1987). The IQ advantage of Mongoloid populations has generally ']2Vf]dB
been found to lie between 2 to 8 IQ points. A number of studies of $HQ~I?r{Hf
intelligence in Japan indicate that the mean IQ is approximately 105. Studies rwDLBpk
of the intelligence of children in Taiwan and Singapore have obtained mean -"xAeI1+
IQs of approximately 103. A recent study of children in Hong Kong obtained wBpt
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a mean IQ of 110 (Lynn, Pagliari & Chan, 1988). The extensive literature EN`JzLjP
on the intelligence of ethnic Orientals in the United States was reviewed by %@:>hQ2;
Vernon (1982) who concluded that the mean non-verbal IQ was about 110 %t&Lq }e
and the verbal IQ about 97, which can be averaged to give a figure of 103.5. #6@hVR.
Although data are now available on the intelligence levels of Mongoloids `S((F|Ty=;
in a variety of locations, the jewel in the crown is missing. This is the PNAvT$0LaZ
intelligence of the population in the People's Republic of China. The interest .'M.yE~5J
in obtaining data on intelligence in China is twofold. Firstly, this is the [Z/P[370
homeland of by far the greatest number of Mongoloids. Secondly, the high 2Di~}* 9&
intelligence levels of Mongoloids in several locations could have been 8x1!15Wiz
determined by selective emigration from China. This is suggested by Flynn xCL)<8[R,}
(1989) for the Chinese in the United States, and the same argument could be e Fs5l
applied to the Chinese populations of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. 9mvy+XD
Data on the intelligence level of the population of mainland China are crucial ;*qXjv&
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for the resolution of this problem. The required data have recently become s>G6/TTH6
available and are the subject of this report. i%133in
METHOD ;0WAfu}#H
A Chinese standardization of the Progressive Matrices was carried out by ^iEf"r
Hou Can Zhang of Beijing Normal University in the mid-nineteen eighties. "-S!^h/v
The standardization sample consisted of 5,108 individuals drawn as a S<]k0bC
stratified sample from the 6 principal administrative areas of China and from *=@8t^fa86
small, medium sized and large towns within these areas. The results are given =&pR=vl
in the form of norm tables in Raven and Court (1989). These norm tables ek)rsxf1A
consist of raw scores for a number of age groups and the percentile
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equivalents of raw scores, set out in the same format as those given for the 9'p| [?]v
United States in Raven (1986) and for Britain in Raven (1981). BMAWjE
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RESULTS +jrx;xwot
The American norm tables give the most precise percentile equivalents for TgV-U
raw scores and for this reason are the most satisfactory standard with which LF.i0^#J
to compare results from China and elsewhere. For the Chinese data it is ~W>{Dd(J_
possible to derive American percentile equivalents for 20 age groups over the \_.'/<aQ
age range 6-15 years. These have been collapsed into 5 age groups, the Eo$l-Hl5=
percentiles transformed into IQs and the Chinese results given in relation to a)2l9
American IQ means of 100 and SDs of 15 in Table 1. Mean IQs of British 1R-0b{w[
children are also given in the Table, making the same calculations from the ?T73BL=
British standardisation sample. Y_*KAr'{P
TABLE 1: MEAN SCORES AND IQs OF AMERICAN, BRITISH ]Yt3@ug_f
AND CHINESE CHILDREN ON RAVEN'S STANDARD z&!o1u
q
PROGRESSIVE MATRICES. ;L87
%P(.
It will be seen that the Chinese children obtain consistently higher means |6-9vU!LK?
than the American and a marginally higher overall mean than the British. `GqF/?i
The mean IQ of American children is depressed by the presence of <
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substantial numbers of blacks in the population. The mean IQ of white /TbJCZ
Americans is 102.2 (Jensen and Reynolds, 1982). Hence in relation to an hRuiuGC
American Caucasoid mean IQ of 100, British children obtain a mean of 101.2 iJ58RY
and Chinese children of 102.1. The statistical significance of the higher mean $]?pAqU\
obtained by the Chinese children in relation to the American can be tested by ,Z|O y|+'
calculating the standard errors. The difference between the means is greater ){GJgk|P
than twice the standard errors and can therefore be considered statistically 0*:n<T9
significant. The Chinese-British difference is not statistically significant. %tkqWK:
DISCUSSION rs4:jS$)
The results show that the intelligence level of children and adolescents in #p=+RTZ<
mainland China is slightly higher than that of Caucasoids in the United States Pq~#SxA~
and in Britain, although the Chinese-British difference is not statistically # d"M(nt
significant. In evaluating the result, account needs to be taken of the very low 1<x5{/CZ
living standards in China. rMG[,:V
Few dispute that intelligence is to some degree determined by envi- `ci
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ronmental conditions and standards of living. Thus children adopted by j\KOKvY)
middle-class families enjoying good living conditions obtain higher IQs than dh]Hf,OLF
their siblings reared in working-class families (Dumaret, 1985; Capron & n\Is}Czl
Duyme, 1989). Furthermore, the increase in living standards in the EM<W+YU
economically developed western nations over the course of the last half vH6(p(l
century has been accompanied by a rise in intelligence of approximately 15 k7:ISjJ
IQ points (Flynn, 1987; Lynn & Hampson, 1986). A major factor in this K'8o'S_bF
rise has probably been that the increase in living standards has been fPN/Mxu
accompanied by better nutrition and this, in turn, has led to improvements in >}.~Y#Ge
the neurological development of the brain (Lynn, 1990). Usht\<{
In the mid-nineteen eighties the per capita income in China was 227 US J-=fy^S5
dollars as compared with 16,636 US dollars in the United States and 8,064 (Ajhf}zJ
US dollars in Britain (United Nations, 1987). To equate the United States and f4<~_ZGr
Britain with China for the standard of living it would be necessary to go back ~*h)`uM
at least to the beginning of the century when British and American mean IQs 5Qg*j/z?
were substantially lower than they are today. Hence, if and when living 2
O(k@M5E?
standards in China improve, the intelligence of the population can be Q +hOW-
expected to increase further. CNuE9|W(vI