中国有着悠久的文明。在数千年时间里，中国实行任人唯贤和一夫多妻制，严惩罪犯。净效应是指聪明的人能够上升到社会的顶端并且有更多的孩子。那些为了谋生而不得不诉诸犯罪的愚蠢的人被从普通人群中剔除了。对一个历史较短的国家来说，这种进化压力可能并不重要，但对一个历史悠久的国家(如中国)有着重大影响。
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Xamba Yangzoim, Armchair General
China has a long civilization. During millenia, China practiced meritocracy and polygamy, punished criminal ruthlessly.
The net effect is that smart people were able to rise to the top of society and had more children. Dumb people who had to resort to crime to make a living were removed from general population.
This evolutionary pressure may not be significant for a country with short history, but has a significant impact on a country with long history such as China.
中国有着悠久的文明。在数千年时间里，中国实行任人唯贤和一夫多妻制，严惩罪犯。
净效应是指聪明的人能够上升到社会的顶端并且有更多的孩子。那些为了谋生而不得不诉诸犯罪的愚蠢的人被从普通人群中剔除了。
对一个历史较短的国家来说，这种进化压力可能并不重要，但对一个历史悠久的国家(如中国)有着重大影响。
Kaufman Xu
In 1996, there were 15,224,282 people born in China. When they reached age six, which was in 2002, about 90% of them were enrolled in primary schools.
1996年，中国有15224,282人出生。当他们六岁的时候，也就是2002年，大约90%的人都上了小学。
When they reached age twelve after six years of primary education, they were admitted to junior secondary schools in 2008. In junior secondary schools, they would study for three years.
经过六年的初等教育，他们在12岁时进入初中，2008年进入初中。在初中，他们会学习三年。
After the junior secondary education, things started to change. They had to attend an examination known as Zhongkao in 2011. Only about 50% of them were admitted to senior secondary schools. The other half, some of them dropped out; some of them were admitted to secondary vocational and technical schools.
初中教育之后，情况开始发生变化。他们不得不参加2011年的中考考试。只有大约50%的学生被高中录取。另一半，其中一些退出了;其中一些人考入中等职业技术学校。
Three years later, in 2014, there were only about nine million attending university entrance examination known as Gaokao. That’s about 62% of people born in 1996. 74.3% of the attendees were admitted to higher education schools. That’s 45.8% of the people born in 1996.
三年后的2014年，只有900万左右的人参加高考。这大约占1996年出生人口的62%。74.3%的考生进入了高等教育学校。这是1996年出生人口的45.8%。
Of the people who attended higher education, 52% of them went to senior colleges (under graduates); 48% of them went to junior colleges or senior vocational and technical schools.
在接受高中教育的人中，有52%的人去了综合性大学(在毕业后);48%的人去了专科学校或高级职业技术学校。
Considering the people who went to senior colleges, that’s about 23.8% of the people born in 1996.
这些上大学的人，这大约是1996年出生的人的23.8%。
That’s not the end. The senior colleges can furtherly divided into three tiers. There were about 2,819,500 admitted to tier two or above senior colleges. That’s about 18.5% of the people born in 1996. The rate of tier one is 6%.
这不是结束。综合性大学可以进一步划分为三层。大约有2819,500名学生被录取到二级或以上的高级院校。这大约是1996年出生人口的18.5%。一级的比率是6%
Tier one colleges can be furtherly divided into three tiers, normal, 211 project, 985 project. Only 1.2% of the people born in 1996 went to 985 project senior colleges. They’re the ‘smart’ ones you are talking about.
一级学院可进一步划分为三级、普通、211工程、985工程。1996年出生的人中，只有1.2%的人去了985个项目。他们是你所谈论的“聪明人”。
Considering China has 1.4 billion people, 1.2% of them is 16,800,000. Guess we have more smart people then.
考虑到中国有14亿人口，其中1.2%的人口是1680万。看来这些就是更聪明的了。
Back to the original questions — Why are the Chinese so smart?
回到最初的问题——为什么中国人如此聪明?
Because you’ve only met the best of the best yet. Even though they’re small percentage of the total population, still it’s a huge amount.
因为你只遇到了最好的。虽然他们占总人口的比例很小，但仍然数量庞大。
Kelly Mao,
First of all, IQ is not the be-all, end-all of intelligence.
首先，智商并不是智力的全部。
It is not. There are so many other ways to measure intelligence. And what are you talking about? Emotional intelligence? Artistic intelligence? Be more specific, please.
它真的不是。还有很多其他的衡量智力的途径。你指的是哪方面?情商?艺术智慧?请问的更具体点。
Okay, so for the sake of this answer we’re going to pretend that what you’re talking about is book-smarts because that’s what most people think of when they think of “intelligence”.
好了，为了能够回答你的问题，我们假定你指的是书本型的聪明，因为这是大多数人在想到“智力”时的想法。
And the answer?
答案是什么呢?
They aren’t. They just work harder. As we know, working harder (usually) means getting better results. That’s what you’re seeing - the better results.
他们不是。他们只是够努力。如我们所知，努力(通常)意味着得到更好的结果。这就是你所看到的——更好的结果。
Fox C
The main reason is the huge population base. just take 3% of 14 billion = 42,000,000. Comparing to well developed and superpower countries, 42m approx. to 13% of US population, 1/3 of Russia, and Japan, 1/2 of Germany, 80% for France, and UK, more than Canada. The second reason is the long history of highly developed culture with accumulation of knowledge and wisdom. P.S. India is matching with China in population, but nothing else.
主要原因是人口基数庞大。只取14亿的3% = 4200万。对发达国家和超级大国而言，差不多也有有4200万聪明人。美国人口的13%，俄罗斯的1 / 3，日本的1 / 2，法国的80%，英国的80%，超过加拿大。第二个原因是其积累了大量知识和智慧的文化高度发达的悠久历史。印度在人口方面与中国是相当的，但除此之外别无其他。
Steve Stewart,
Part of it is eugenics. China has a slightly higher average IQ than Western nations, because the one child policy prevented the poor from having more than one child while allowing the rich to afford more than one. This means the more successful, more intelligent people in China have been having the most kids. It's the absolute opposite in America.
The main reason, though, is the education system and work ethic that the Chinese have. They seem smarter, because they're more educated during high school and work harder than Western nations.
一部分原因是优生学。中国的平均智商略高于西方国家，是因为独生子女政策使穷人不能生育超过一个孩子，同时让富人负担得起不止一个孩子。这意味着，在中国，更成功、更聪明的人拥有最多的孩子。这在美国是完全相反的
然而，主要的原因是中国人的教育制度和职业道德。他们看起来更聪明是因为他们在高中时受过更多的教育，并且比西方国家更努力地工作。
Mark Werner, I l
Think about your sample. Most of the Chinese (or Indians, or whoever) that the average “westerner” meets are individuals who have come to America to pursue advanced studies at prestigious universities, or people who have come over on “tech” visas because they already have advanced degrees and training in a particular field.
Doctors, engineers, technicians….
基于你本人的例子。大多数中国人(或印度人，或其他地方的)，一般“西方人”遇到的人都是来美国深造的人，他们是在名牌大学里深造的，或者是那些在“科技”签证上取得成功的人，因为他们已经在某一特定领域获得了高级学位和培训。
医生,工程师,技术员…。
So, you are seeing the “best of the best”. If you went to China or India, and wandered around the streets and talked with the average joe ….. Chances are he wouldn’t be any brighter than any other average joe anywhere in the world.
As the one answer says… It’s a “meme”… An ethnic stereotype.
所以，你看到的是“优中选优”者。如果你去中国或印度,漫步街头,与普通人交谈……他很有可能不会比世界上任何地方的普通人更聪明。
作为一个答案来说…这是一个“模因”…一个种族刻板印象
Paul Denlinger
I’m not sure all Chinese are smart, there are plenty of dumb ones.
It’s a highly competitive society, starting with the education system, and this forces people to think about what they want to do with their own lives so that they can do something meaningful and make meaningful contributions.
Chinese society is much more competitive than western societies in this respect, and I think it forces people to think differently. When Chinese go to the west, it gives them a certain advantage, especially when westerners don’t understand that Chinese live and work according to a different set of social rules.
This is something westerners who have not lived in Chinese society cannot understand.
我不确定所有的中国人都是聪明的，他们中也有很多笨蛋。
这是一个从教育系统开始就高度竞争的社会，这迫使人们思考他们想做什么谋生，这样他们可以做一些有意义的事情并做出有意义的贡献。
中国社会在这方面比西方社会更具竞争力，我认为这迫使人们以不同的方式思考。当中国人去西方的时候，这给了他们一定的优势，特别是当西方人不了解中国人的生活和工作是根据一套不同的社会规则时。
这是一些没有生活在中国社会的西方人所不能理解的。
oanna Wong
According to modern science, the early age education is significant important for a child`s life long development.
Chinese education forces children to learn a lot in maths other subjects from age 5 to 18 years old, which is very useful to maintain an average level of intelligence for the majority.
However, this does not allow some creative thinking.
Comparing with other nations, today`s Chinese does not create that much.
This means, not smart enough actually from the general aspect.
根据现代科学，早期教育对孩子的一生发展具有重要意义。
中国的教育迫使孩子们从5岁到18岁的其他科目中学习很多东西，这对于保证大多数人的平均智力水平非常有用。
然而，这限制了一些创造性思维。
与其他国家相比，今天的中国人并没有那么有创造性。
这意味着，就总体而言不够聪明。
Anonymous
Imagine a school system that seems like slavery. Imagine parents that don’t celebrate accomplishment and constantly push you to be better. Imagine crying and be told how weak you are.
It’s not that they are physically smarter, it’s that they are forced to slave away in school and train their minds to think a lot. The harmful effects of this is they generally lack creativity, personality and imagination.
There’s a reason why Chinese people are usually not CEOs.
想象一个看起来像奴隶制的学校系统。
想象一下，如果父母不赞美你的成就，并不断督促你变得更好。想象你哭着，被告知你有多么脆弱。
这并不是说他们的身体更聪明，而是他们被迫在学校里做奴隶，训练他们去思考很多事情。不利影响是他们通常缺乏创造力、个性和想象力。
中国人通常不是ceo，这是有原因的。
Mulin Zhang
On average, the Chinese population is a tiny little bit smarter than the Caucasians. The average IQ of Caucasians is 100, while for the Chinese it’s 105. But from what I observed, most chinese are very close to the average, there are fewer extremely smart Chinese person when compared with the white race. In Caucasian race, there’s a wider distribution of IQ. I’ve seen quite a few extremely smart white people(my IQ is 142 so when I see an extremely smart person that means that person’s IQ is probably above 155). I graduated from a top university in China, and went to an IVY LEAGUE university in the US for postdoc. I felt in that top university in China, there’re a lot of students who are about as smart as I am, and some are a little bit smarter. There were only one or two who are extremely smart. But in that ivy league university, I felt most of my co-workers are dumber than me, but there are quite a few extremely smart guys and gals.
平均而言，中国人比高加索人聪明一点点。高加索人的平均智商是100，而中国人的智商是105。但从我观察到的情况来看，大多数中国人都非常接近平均水平。与白种人相比，中国人很少有非常聪明的人。在白种人的种族中，智商的分布更为广泛。我见过不少非常聪明的白人(我的智商是142，所以当我看到一个非常聪明的人，这意味着这个人的智商可能在155以上)。我从中国的一所顶尖大学毕业，去了美国的常青藤联盟大学做博士后。我觉得在中国的顶尖大学里，有很多学生和我一样聪明，有些人聪明一点。只有一两个人非常聪明。但是在那所常青藤大学里，我觉得我的大多数同事都比我笨，但也有一些非常聪明的男孩和女孩。
Sio Ieng
No seriously, they are not smarter or dumber. why? because they are humans like you. IQ is not a reliable way to measure intelligence. The day people is accepting that, then maybe you can sleep more peacefully because it will comfort you that you are not more stupid than chinese (or replace chinese by whatever country people you like).
说真的，他们并不聪明，也不笨。为什么?因为他们是像你一样的人。智商不是衡量智力的可靠方法。当人们接受这一事实的时候，也许你可以睡得更安稳些，因为这样会让你觉得自己并不比中国人(或者随你喜欢把中国人换成任意哪国人)。
Al Klein
There’s no higher, or lower, incidence of “smart” among the Chinese than among any other group.
在中国人中，“聪明”的发生率并不比任何其他群体高或低
Gene Sewell
When I read the question, my brain thinks you are asking "why are white people so dumb" (or you can exchange some other racial identity.)
当我读到这个问题时，我的大脑认为你在问“为什么白人如此愚蠢”(或者你可以用其他的种族身份替代白人)。
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